Edible Plant Species

Ephedra distachya Linn. Gnetaceae (Ephedraceae). SEA GRAPE.
China and south Russia.
The fruit is eaten by the Russian peasants and by the wandering hordes of Great Tartary. The fruit is eaten by the Chinese and is mucilaginous, with a slightly acid or pungent flavor. The fruit is ovoid, succulent, sweet, pale or bright red when ripe. It is eaten in some places, as on the Sutlej.

Epilobium angustifolium Linn. Onagraceae. FIREWEED. WILLOW-HERB.
Northern climates.
In England, says Johnson, the leaves are much used for the adulteration of tea. The leaves form a wholesome vegetable when boiled, and the young shoots make a good substitute for asparagus. The people of Kamchatka, says Lightfoot, eat the young shoots which creep under the ground and they brew a sort of ale from the dried pith. Richardson says the young leaves, under the name of l'herbe fret, are used by the Canadian voyagers as a potherb.

E. latifolium Linn.
Northern and arctic regions.
This species furnishes a vegetable of poor quality for northern Asia and Iceland.

E. tetragonum Linn. SQUARE-STEMMED WILLOW-HERB.
Europe.
This plant is used as a vegetable in Iceland and northern Asia.