Note 205 — OREGON MISSIONS AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS MISSIONS (continued 2)

The wappato (sagittaria latifolia) was an important article of food for the Northwest Indians. See descriptions of its gathering and preparation in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, index. The flower of the bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) has been chosen as the Montana state flower; it gives name both to the river and to a range of mountains in that state. The biscuit root was probably what is known as the white-apple or prairie potato (Psoralea esculenta), a food-root widely spread in North America. See our volume xxi, p. 248, note 62.—Ed.