''Perideridia gairdneri'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
Apiaceae known by the common names common yampah, Gardner's yampah and Squaw root. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a perennial herb which grows to around .
Its slender, erect stem grows from cylindrical
tuber
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...
s measuring up to 8 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 35 centimeters long which are divided into many narrow, subdivided lobes. Leaves higher on the plant are smaller and less divided. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a compound
umbel
In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...
of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, rounded fruits each a few millimeters long.
The entire plant is
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...
, but caution should be maintained as it has a similar appearance to the
carrot family's deadly
water hemlock
''Cicuta'', commonly known as water hemlock, is a genus of four species of highly poisonous plants in the family Apiaceae. They are perennial herbaceous plants which grow up to tall, having distinctive small green or white flowers arranged in ...
and
poison hemlock.
It was an important food plant, even a
staple food
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...
, for many
Native American groups, including the
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
,
Northern Paiute
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
,
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
and
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
. It would seem certain that the term ''yampa'' would be a version on the Comanche name for the tuber, variously ''yap'', and ''yampa''. One of the main divisions of the Comanche, the Yapainuu, were named the ''yap'' eaters, whose chief was the famous
Ten Bears
Ten Bears (Comanche ''Pawʉʉrasʉmʉnurʉ''Anglicized as Parua-wasamen and Parry-wah-say-mer in treaties and older documents.) (ca. 1790-November 23, 1872) was the principal chief of the Yamparika or "Root Eater" division of the Comanche from ca ...
. More commonly referred to as the Yamparikas, this division roamed in the Northern Oklahoma area in historic times.
[Ethnobotany](_blank)
/ref> The tuberous roots could be eaten like potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es, roasted, steamed, eaten fresh or dried, made into mush or pinole, used as flour
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...
and flavoring, and were also used medicinally. Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...
encountered the plant in 1805 and 1806, referring to it as a species of fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
.
This food root is called ''cawíitx'' in Nez Perce , ''sawítk'' in Sahaptin and ''yap'' in Comanche. Blackfoot Indians
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
knew the root by the name ''nits-ik-opa'' ("double root") and by those tribes of the Pacific Northwest as either ''yampa'', ''ipo'', or ''sa'-hweet''.
References
* Kavanagh, Thomas W., Comanche Ethnography; U. of Nebraska Press, 2008. p. 45.
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
USDA Plants Profile
Photo gallery
gairdneri
Edible Apiaceae
Plants used in Native American cuisine
Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Root vegetables
Flora of British Columbia
Flora of Alberta
Flora of Saskatchewan
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Apiaceae-stub