Kalm tells us in his “Travels,” “that the Indians called the plant Taw-Kee, and used its dried seeds as food.”
Spearwort.
Ranunculus ambigens. Crowfoot Family.
Stems.—One to two feet high. Leaves.—Oblong or lance-shaped, mostly toothed, contracted into a half-clasping leaf-stalk. Flowers.—Bright yellow, solitary or clustered. Calyx.—Of five sepals. Corolla.—Of five to seven oblong petals. Stamens.—Indefinite in number, occasionally few. Pistils.—Numerous in a head.
Many weeks after the marsh marigolds have passed away, just such marshy places as they affected are brightly flecked with gold. Wondering, perhaps, if they can be flowering for the second time in the season, we wade recklessly into the bog to rescue, not the marsh marigold, but its near relation, the spearwort, which is still more closely related to the buttercup, as a little comparison of the two flowers will show. This plant is especially common at the North.
Indian Cucumber-root.
Medeola Virginica. Lily Family.
Root.—Tuberous, shaped somewhat like a cucumber, with a suggestion of its flavor. Stem.—Slender, from one to three feet high, at first clothed with wool. Leaves.—In two whorls on the flowering plants, the lower of five to nine oblong, pointed leaves set close to the stem, the upper usually of three or four much smaller ones. Flowers.—Greenish-yellow, small, clustered, recurved, set close to the upper leaves. Perianth.—Of three sepals and three petals, oblong and alike. Stamens.—Six, reddish-brown. Pistil.—With three stigmas, long, recurved, and reddish-brown. Fruit.—A purple berry.
One is more apt to pause in September to note the brilliant foliage and purple berries of this little plant than to gather the drooping inconspicuous blossoms for his bunch of wood-flowers in June. The generic name is after the sorceress Medea, on account of its supposed medicinal virtues, of which, however, there seems to be no record.
The tuberous rootstock has the flavor, and something the shape, of the cucumber, and was probably used as food by the Indians. It would not be an uninteresting study to discover which of our common wild plants are able to afford pleasant and nutritious food; in such a pursuit many of the otherwise unattractive popular names would prove suggestive.
Common Bladderwort.
Utricularia vulgaris. Bladderwort Family.
Stems.—Immersed, one to three feet long. Leaves.—Many-parted, hair-like, bearing numerous bladders. Scape.—Six to twelve inches long. Flowers.—Yellow, five to twelve on each scape. Calyx.—Two-lipped. Corolla.—Two-lipped, spurred at the base. Stamens.—Two. Pistil.—One.