4 BULLETIN 84, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
There is no doubt that the uclo is worthy of adding to our list of 
spring vegetables, for it is easily grown, its shoots are readily 
blanched, and it requires little care. A patch of it can be forced 
every spring for at least six years, and probably much longer. TVhen 
properly prepared its blanched shoots are delicious; they have their 
own characteristic flavor, can be prepared for the table in a great 
variety of ways, and are keenly appreciated by people of discriminat- 
ing taste. Space for space, udo will yield about the same amount of 
food for the table as asparagus and will be ready for use at about 
the same time in the spring. Possibly more labor is required to 
blanch the shoots of the udo than those of asparagus, but the udo is 
probably somewhat easier to take care of and yields sooner. 
Fig. o. 
-Plantation of udo one season from seed at the Arlington (Va.) Field Station. 
1905. 
As an ornamental, udo has been known to nurserymen for twenty 
years or more under the name of Alalia cor data Thunb. It might 
be termed a rank-growing, shrubby perennial with a large, fleshy 
rootstock (fig. 5). It dies down each fall after the first frost and 
comes up again, much as asparagus and rhubarb do. It grows to a 
height of 10 feet or more if on rich soil, producing a very ornamental 
mass of large green leaves, and, in the late summer, long, loose 
flower clusters, sometimes 3 feet in length. The flowers attract bees 
and flies in great numbers, and as a honey plant the udo would appear 
to warrant the attention of beekeepers (fig. G). A field of udo is 
generally humming with insects. 
