BOTANICAL INDEX. 
AO 
Scilla Fraseri. 
the garden, (Sept, and Oct. are the best months for planting) where they make love- 
ly border for a walk or flower bed, and as they bloom so early in Spring, larger sum- 
mer tlowering plants can be planted so near them that their foliage will cover the 
whole ground without injury to the Scilla bulbs, and save room, which is often a con- 
sideration in the flower garden. They are also very desirable in a permanent 
bulb bed, and make a fine display with their many shades of blue when 
grown with such dwarf growing plants as 
Hyacinthus, Lily of the Valley, &c.; but 
their favorite position is along the border, 
or even planted singly on a lawn in the turf. 
We have said nearly all the species offered 
by the florist are foreign, but occasionally one 
offers our native American species, Scilla Fra- 
seri, (Fig. 142) which, by the way, has had a 
hard time to maintain an existence, (with 
botanists in its nomenclature,) for it has had 
its name changed so often by botanists, that 
it is quite doubtful if it can yet claim a se- 
cure resting place (on paper). It was first in- 
troduced to the floral world by Nuttall, under 
the name of Phalangium esculentum ; changed 
by Ker to Scilla Esculentum ; to Camassia Es- 
culentum, by Lindley; to Camassia Fraseri, by 
Torrey; and last to Scilla Fraseri, by Dr. 
Gray. 
The flowers are of a pale blue color, borne 
in an elongated raceme, on stalks from one to 
two feet high during May. Sepals widely 
spreading. The long, linear leaves are pro- 
duced quite freely, giving the plant a luxu- 
riant appearance in its native moist prairie home in the western portion of North 
America. The bulb is long and round, made up of concentric rings or layers like 
the Onion, and is one of the native food products of the North American Indian, 
enumerated and described in the U. S. Agricultural Report for 1870, which says:— 
“The root is dug in June and July. When eaten raw the taste is pleasant and mu- 
cilaginous, when boiled it somewhat resembles that of the common potato. The 
Indian mode of preparing it for future use is to dig a pit, line it with rocks, upon 
which a fire is made, and, when heated sufficiently, the heated stones are swept clean 
and the roots are heaped upon them; grass or twigs are next laid over the pile, and 
finally, a covering of earth. After several days the pit is uncovered, when the 
white roots are found to he converted into a thor- 
oughly cooked, dark-brown, homogeneous mass, 
of about the consistency of softened glue, and as 
sweet as molasses. Cooked in this manner, the 
roots are often made into large cakes, by mash- 
ing and pressing them together, and, when 
slighty dried in the sun, they become rather pli- 
able and tough, and look like plugs of black, 
navy tobacco. Its color does not recommend it 
to the taste, but it is sweet, mucilaginous, and 
agreeable as the fresh root, excepting a slight 
smoky flavor, acquired in baking. In its pressed 
form it keeps softer than in the raw state, or 
when simply cooked ; and may be kept for a 
year or more. The roots, when boiled in water, 
yield a very good molasses, which is much prized, 
and is used on important festival occasions by 
various tribes. The Indians of Cape Flattery, 
the Nez Perces of Idaho, and those of Pitt River, 
California, are the greatest consumers of this ar- 
ticle of diet, under the name of Kamass root.” 
Perhaps it would not be amiss to say that the 
early colonists of both North and South America Fig. 143 . 
found the natives (Indians) making use of almost every root, plant and often 
even the tender twigs that contained any Saccharine, Farinaceous or Mucilaginous 
matter, and if it contained any poisons incorporated with it, a means had been de- 
vised to drive oft - the poisonous acids and still retain all the nutritious food princi- 
ples. 
