THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
87 
epigynous, while in more primitive ones they are hypogynous. 
Wind-polHnated and other simple plants have to produce much 
pollen; in the orchids the pollen is often much reduced in 
amount. All these indications mark the orchids the most com- 
plex of the Monocotyledons. 
EDIBLE PINE SEEDS. 
BY CHARLES FRANCIS SAUNDERS. 
QEVERAL species of pines in the far west have large seeds 
^ which are palatable and nutritious, and besides having 
long been an important part of the Indians' bill of fare, are 
prized by the wdiites of the region for their pleasant taste. 
One of these, abundant upon the western foot hills of the 
Sierra Nevada, is Pimis Sahiniana, which, because of the 
fondness of the Digger Indians for its seeds, is locally known 
as the Digger pine. The noble sugar pine {P. Lambertiana) 
of the Sierra forests also produces edible seeds, but they are 
difficult to procure on account of the extreme height of the 
trees, w^hich often tower upwards of a hundred feet before 
the branches appear. If one waits for the frost to open the 
burs, one usually waits in vain, as the industrious squirrels 
get the seeds almost before they reach the ground. A favorite 
way is to shoot off the cones with a rifle, just before they 
open. This a good marksman can readily do, as the cones 
are from one to two feet long and hang at the tip of the 
branchlets. 
The one-leaved pine (P. monophylla) is another Sierra 
nut pine, abundant on the eastern slope and affording a food 
supply to the desert tribes. Fremont, in one of his narratives, 
tells of passing an Indian hut quite snowed in save for one 
path connecting it with a neighboring nut-pine tree, which 
supplied the isolated family with wood and food till the snow 
should thaw. 
