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Lomatium cous

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Lomatium cous
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Lomatium
Species:
L. cous
Binomial name
Lomatium cous
(S.Watson) J.M.Coult. & Rose

Lomatium cous (cous biscuitroot)[1] is a perennial herb of the family Apiaceae. The root is prized as a food by the tribes of the southern plateau of the Pacific Northwest. Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen in 1806 while on his expedition.[2]

It is called x̣áwš in the Sahaptin language, and qáamsit (when fresh) and qáaws (when peeled and dried) in the Nez Perce language.

It is called shappelell by the Chinooks: "... and a kind of bisquit, which the natives make of roots called by them shappelell."—Meriwether Lewis, Friday, January 9, 1806. From The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark, Down the Columbia to Fort Clatsop. Volume 6 of the Nebraska Edition. Gary E. Moulton, Editor. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1990.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Lomatium cous​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  2. ^ Schiemann, Donald Anthony. Wildflowers of Montana, page 174. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, 2005.