90 
NEW ESCULENT PLANTS. 
NEW ESCULENT PLANTS. 
At any time an addition to our lists of culti- 
vated esculents is regarded with interest, and 
deservedly so, for though such additions may 
not as regards intrinsic worth equal even some 
of those kinds we already cultivate, yet they 
afford variety on our tables ; and there is 
besides the probability of their proving adapted 
to certain soils and circumstances, where other 
more familiar kinds do not succeed so well. 
At the present juncture, however, after the 
partial failure of the crop of our chief esculent 
root — the potato — in the summers of 1845 
and 1846, additions of this kind become 
invested with much increased interest ; and 
this is equally the case whatever view may be 
taken of the visitation referred to. 
"We have been much interested in the 
perusal of an account of certain roots which 
are employed by natives of North West Ame- 
rica very extensively as articles of food, and 
which might prove useful to ourselves in a 
cultivated state. This account has been fur- 
nished by Mr. C. A. Geyer, and was published 
in a recent number of the London Journal of 
Botany. From this source we gather the 
following notes on the subject referred to : — 
The Gamass, Camass, or Quamash (Ca- 
massia esculenta, Lindley ; Nartheciitm Squa- 
mashf'Pursh. ;Phalangium Squamosa, Nuttall.) 
— This is a liliaceous plant found so abundantly 
on the fertile prairies of the great plateaux of 
Upper Oregon, as to give its name to them ; 
they are called the Gamass plains or prairies, 
and have a general elevation of 3,000 feet. 
When this plant is in bloom, these extensive 
plains are covered as with a carpet by its deep 
blue flowers. The plant much resembles a 
common blue hyacinth, and the bulb is also 
of about the same size, but in texture and 
shape more like that of Narcissus Tazetta. 
The raw bulb resembles in its substance the 
common squill ; by baking it acquires a sweet 
taste, and when boiled the taste is not unlike 
the syrup of squills, but not so sweet. The 
Gamass of the Oregon seems to differ from 
that of the Missouri and Illinois in being alto- 
gether more robust, having bulbs twice as 
large, shorter, stiffer, leaves, and longer ra- 
cemes of larger flowers. 
Mr. Geyer gives the following account of 
the digging and preparing of this root : — 
The digging of the Gamass bulb is a feast for 
old and young among the Indians. The differ- 
ent neighbouring tribes meet on the same 
plain, and mostly at the same time, at the same 
spot where their forefathers met. Here the 
old men talk over tales of olden time ; the 
young relate hunting adventures, and pass 
their time in gaming ; while on the women 
alone, young and old, rests the whole labour 
of gathering that indispensable food. The 
young women, especially, vie with each other 
in collecting the greatest possible quantity 
and best quality, their fame for future good 
wives depending much on the industry they 
show there. Many a marriage is closed after 
the Gamass are brought home. The Indians 
gather this root after their return from gather- 
ing the Biscuit root. The whole village is 
active collecting horses and sacks, the latter 
chiefly of Thujabass or Helonias roots, and at 
last family after family leave the village for the 
plains. The digging takes place as soon as 
the lower half of the flowers on the racemes 
begin to fade, or when the flowering is entirely 
passed. For the purpose, the Indian women 
use a stick two feet long, curved like a sabre, 
of hawthorn wood, which is provided with a 
cross piece of elk horn at the top, serving as a 
handle. This instrument they use with asto- 
nishing dexterity, so that they very seldom 
strike the point twice after the same bulb. 
Four or five sacks of raw bulbs isa common day's 
labour, which dwindle to about two after baking 
and drying. As soon as a sufficient quantity 
of bulbs are gathered, they prepare for 
baking ; for that purpose they dig or scrape a 
hole in the ground three or four feet in depth, 
make a fire and throw in a layer of red hot 
stones, then a layer of clean grass over these, 
and now a layer of Gamass, the latter having 
been cleaned from the adhering soil ; this is 
repeated until the hole is level with the ground 
above ; the fire is now made on the top of 
the pit, and kept burning for twenty-four 
hours or longer. When the Gamass are 
baked, the Indians feast from lodge to lodge, 
and nothing can make them recollect that they 
are hungry and starved for nearly two 
months. 
The Gamass appears to have been intro- 
duced to this country in 1827 ; and is a 
strikingly handsome bulbous plant with large 
flowers : a border of peat earth is recom- 
mended for it, and the cool shade of a north 
wall. It does not appear to have been culti- 
vated at all in this country as an esculent. 
The Biscuit Root (Ferula spS) — This is a 
small umbelliferous plant, also producing deli- 
cate tubers , which are much used as food. There 
appear to be several species of Ferula, of which 
the tubers of all are used in a similar way. 
That known as the Biscuit root, is represented 
as a humble plant emerging from the sand 
under the influence of the first rays of the sun 
in March or April ; in about three weeks 
attaining a blooming state, and again in about 
the same period ripened,, and its dried stalks 
scattered over the plains by the winds. Thus 
the whole period of the vegetation of this 
plant does not exceed six weeks. The tubers 
when three or four years old are about the 
