|
The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: The Plants
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark - Plants. A general description of the beasts,
birds and plants, &c. found by the party in this expedition.
The
vegetable productions of the country, which furnish a large
proportion of the food of the Indians, are the roots of
a species of thistle, the fern, the rush, the liquorice,
and a small cylindric root, resembling in flavor and consistency
the sweet potatoe.
•1st. The thistle, called by the natives shanatanque, is
a plant which grows in a deep, rich, dry loam, with a considerable
mixture of sand. The stem is simple, ascending, cylindric,
and hispid, and rising to the height of three or four feet,
The cauline life, which, as well as the stem of the last
season is dead, is simple, crenate, and oblong; rather more
obtuse at its apex than at its insertion, which is decurrent,
and its position declining; whilst the margin is armed with
prickles, and its disk is hairy. The flower too is dry and
mutilated; but the pericarp seems much like that of the
common thistle. The root-leaves, which still possess their
verdure, and are about half grown, are of a pale green color.
The root, however, is the only part used. It is from nine
to fifteen inches long, about the size of a man's thumb,
perpendicular, fusiform, and with from two to four radicles.
The rind is of a brown color, and somewhat rough. When first
taken from the earth, it is white, and nearly as crisp as
a carrot, and in this state is sometimes eaten without any
preparation. But after it is prepared by the same process
used for the pasheco quamash, which is the most usual and
the best method, it becomes black, and much improved in
flavor. Its taste is exactly that of sugar, and it is indeed
the sweetest vegetable employed by the Indians. After being
baked in the kiln, it is either eaten simply or with train
oil; sometimes pounded fine and mixed with cold water, until
it is reduced to the consistence of sagamity, or Indian
mush, which last method is the most agreeable to our palates.
•2. Three species of fern grow in this neighborhood, but
the root of only one is eaten. It is very abundant in those
parts of the open lands and prairies which have a deep,
loose, rich, black loam, without any sand. There, it attains
the height of four or five feet, and is a beautiful plant
with a fine green color in summer. The stem, which is smooth,
cylindric, and slightly grooved on one side, rises erectly
about half its height, when it divides into two branches,
or rather long footstalks, which put forth in pairs from
one side only, and near the edges of the groove, declining
backwards from the grooved side. These footstalks are themselves
grooved and cylindric, and as they gradually taper toward
the extremities, put forth others of a smaller size, which
are alternate, and have forty or fifty alternate, pinnate,
horizontal, and sessile leaves: the leaves are multipartite
for half the length of their footstalk, when they assume
the tongue-like form altogether; being, moreover, revolute,
with the upper disk smooth, and the lower resembling cotton:
the top is annual, and therefore dead at present, but it
produces no flower or fruit: the root itself is perennial
and grows horizontally; sometimes a little diverging, or
obliquely descending, and frequently dividing itself as
it proceeds, and shooting up a number of stems. It lies
about four inches under the surface of the earth, in a cylindrical
form, with few or no radicles, and varies from the size
of a goose quill tothat of a man's finger. The bark is black,
thin, brittle, and rather rough, and easily separates in
flakes from the part which is eaten: the centre is divided
into two parts by a strong, flat, and white ligament, like
a piece of thin tape; on each side of which is a white substance,
resembling, after the root is roasted, both in appearance
and flavor, the dough of wheat. It has, however, a pungency
which is disagreeable, but the natives eat it voraciously,
and it seems to be very nutritious.
•3. The rush is most commonly used by the Killamucks, and
other Indians on the seacoast, along the sands of which
it grows in greatest abundance. From each root a single
stem rises erectly to the height of three or four feet,
somewhat thicker than a large quill, hollow and jointed;
about twenty or thirty long, lineal, stellate, or radiate
and horizontal leaves surround the stem at each joint, about
half an inch above which, its stem is sheathed like the
sand rush. When green, it resembles that plant also in appearance,
as well as in having a rough stem. It is not branching;
nor does it bear, as far as we can discover, either flower
or seed. At the bottom of this stem, which is annual, is
a small, strong radicle, about an inch long, descending
perpendicularly to the root, while just above the junction
of the radicle with the stem, the latter is surrounded in
the form of a wheel, with six or nine small radicles, descending
obliquely: the root attached to this radicle is a perennial
solid bulb, about an inch long, and of the thickness of
a man's thumb, of an ovate form, depressed on one or two
of its sides, and covered with a thin, smooth, black rind:
the pulp is white, brittle, and easily masticated. It is
commonly roasted, though sometimes eaten raw; but in both
states is rather an insipid root.
•4.
The liquorice of this country does not differ from that
common to the United Statss. It here delights in a deep,
loose, sandy soil, and grows very large, and abundantly.
It is prepared by roasting in the embers, and pounding it
slightly with a small stick, in order to separate the strong
ligament in the centre of the root, which is then thrown
away, and the rest chewed and swallowed. In this way it
has an agreeable flavor, not unlike that of the sweet potatoe.
The root of the cattail, or cooper's flag, is eaten by the
Indians. There is also, a species of small, dry, tuberous
root, two inches in length, and about the thickness of the
finger. They are eaten raw, are crisp, milky, and of an
agreeable flavor.
•5. Beside the small cylindric root mentioned above, is
another of the same form and appearance, which is usually
boiled and eaten with train oil. Its taste, however, is
disagreeably bitter. But the most valuable of all the Indian
roots, is
•6.
The wappatoo, or the bulb of the common sagittafolia, or
common arrowhead. It does not grow in this neighborhood,
but is in great abundance in the marshy grounds of that
beautiful valley, which extends from near Quicksand river
for seventy miles westward, and is a principal article of
trade between the inhabitants of that valley and those of
the seacoast.
The shrub rises to the height of four or five feet; the
stem simple and much branched. The bark is of a reddish
dark brown; the main stem somewhat rough, while that of
the bough is smooth; the leaf is about one tenth of an inch
long, obtuse at the apex, and acute and angular at the insertion
of the pedicle. The leaf is three fourths of an inch in
length, and three eighths in width, smooth, and of a paler
green than evergreens generally are. The fruit is a small
deep purple berry, and of a pleasant flavor; the natives
eat the berry when ripe, but seldom collect such quantities
as to dry for winter use.
Accounts
of the Fruits and Berries
Accounts of the
Trees
Accounts of the
Shrubs and Undergrowth
|
