Note 266 — {41} Fifthly, Of Plants.

Gerard, p. 75,—Avena nuda, L.; derived from common oats (A. sativa, L.) according to Link; and also (in Gerard’s time, and even later) in cultivation. It was called pillcorn, or peelcorn, because the grains, when ripe, drop naked from the husks. But is it not possible that our author’s Silpee (comparable with apee, a leaf; toopee, a root; ahpee, a bow, in the Micmac language,— Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vi., pp. 20, 24) was really the American name of the well-known water-oats, or Canada rice,—Zizania aquatica, L.; the deciduous grains of which are said to afford “a very good meal” (Loudon, Encycl., p. 788), with the qualities of rice?—See Bigel., Fl. Bost., edit. 3, p. 369. This has long been used by our savages; but I have not met with any mention of it in the early writers. The “standing dish in New England” has its interest, if it were really made of Canada rice.