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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.
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