Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012 - (Page 276)

species he found on the Plateau lived for him as both prospective cultivars and essential sustenance. In his description of the beautiful sagebrush mariposa lily, Calochortus macrocarpus, he noted not only its remarkable flower, but also the fact that “in spring it forms an article of food of Inland Tribes, and is called in their tongue Koo-e-oop…The root is roundish, crisp, and juicy, yielding a palatable farina when boiled.” He learned to follow the fritillary (Fritillaria pudica) now called yellow bells, one of the first spring flowers he saw on the Plateau, around the entire calendar: “Roots eaten, both raw and roasted on embers, by the natives and are collected in July and dried in the sun for winter store.” He sampled Allium onions, including the one that bears his name, wherever he traveled, and Hooker illustrated Douglas’s brodiaea (Triteleia grandiflora) that clearly shows the delicate netting tribal women had to peel off the corm before roasting it for food. It should come as no surprise then, that the collector paid close attention to the digging and cooking of the beautiful blue camas lily (Camassia quamash), even as he procured seed and packed dried bulbs in sand so that it might succeed as a new flower offering for the London Horticultural Society. Douglas’s field notes include one family’s recipe for cooking camas in an earth oven, and he ended the account, as he often did, with a modest joke that included an historical reference. “Captain Lewis observes that when eaten in a large quantity they occasion bowel complaints. This I am not aware of, but assuredly they produce flatulence: when in the Indian hut I was almost blown out by strength of the wind.” Douglas’s ethnobotany, like that of the tribes, was not confined to a single family of plants. Near Boardman, Oregon, he observed that both species of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia polyacantha and O. fragilis) were baked in earth ovens similar to the ones he had seen used for camas. He recognized the restorative powers of bitterroot: “The roots are admirably calculated for carrying on long journies: two or three ounces a day being sufficient for a man, even while undergoing great fatigue.” Although he struggled to identify the many biscuitroots (Lomatium) he saw on the Plateau, he did record the gathering and consumption of the earliest shoots of the one called chocolate tips (Lomatium dissectum), the large edible tubers of other lomatiums, and the stimulating anise-scented seeds of still others. Although Douglas seldom delved into the medicinal practices of native peoples (relying himself on a variety of patent medicines that included laudanum), he carefully studied the qualities of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) cordage, comparing it favorably to British-manufactured cotton and linens twines. He learned about the broad range of uses for beargrass in both the Coast and Plateau Calochortus macrocarpus (Sagebrush mariposa lily) Edward's Botanical Register, 1828 276 Rock Garden Quarterly Vol. 70 (3)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012

Digital Quarterly
Expanding Panayoti's Axioms
Photo Contest 2012
Photographing Alpine Plants: A Landscape Point of View
NARGS 2013 Election Timetable
Rock Gardening from Scratch - Seeds
Kim Blaxland and the Violets of North America
Viola pedata
Violas, Kim, and Us - A Celebration
Cooking Native Japanese Plants
Carl Gehenio Memorial Trough Show
Fire in the Hole: Phlox across Colorado
Rebuilding a Rock Garden in Pittsburgh
A Remarkable Garden: David Douglas and the Shrub-steppe of the Columbia Plateau
Bookshelf - Reviews
Swedish Dreams
Treasurer's Report
Bulletin Board
2012 - Eastern Study Weekend: October, Pittsburgh

Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012