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Famine Foods
Compiled by Robert Freedman

POLYPODIACEAE

Athyrium arnottii (Brock), Milde. Hawaii: young leafy shoots eaten raw with mountain stream shrimp. Endemic to mountainous areas of Hawaiian Islands. Vernacular names - Maui (plant): Hoi'o, Pohole; leaf shoots: Pepe'e. Ref. HANDY, NEAL.

Drymoglossum carnosum, Hook. China: shoots and leaves eaten. Vernacular name: Snail -Shell Grass. Ref. READ.

Drymoglossum subcordatum, Fee. China: leaves eaten. Ethnomedical use: for dysentary. Ref. READ.

Dryopteris cyatheoides (Kaulf.) O. Ktze. Hawaii: leaf shoots eaten raw. Root scraped and eaten raw. Vernacular names: Kikawaio, Kikawaioa; (Maui): Pakikawaio. Ref. HANDY, NEAL.

Dryopteris palacea (Swartz.) C. Christ. Peru (Vilcanota Valley): a wild fern, the starchy fronds of which are eaten while still folded. Grows below 2600 meters. An infusion of the leaves is used as a mild purgative. Vernacular names - Quechua (plant): Raki raki ; (frond): Hullpo. Ref. GADE.

Polypodium vulgare, L. Norway: roots used to obtain flour for bread or porridge. Vernacular names: Oakfern, Tree -Fern. Ref. SAYCE.

Polystichium aculeatum (L.) Roth. India (Garhwal Himalayas): fronds eaten. Vernacular name: Christmas Fern. Ref. GUPTA.

Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn. (syn. Pteris aquilinia, L. var. esculentum, Hook. Pteris esculentus, Forst.) China: rhizomous roots eaten as a famine food in Chaotung, southern Szechuan, on the Yunnan border. Australia: starchy rhizomes eaten raw or roasted. Sierra Leone: tips of young fronds eaten. India: rhizome eaten. Vernacular name: Fiddlehead Fern., Brake Fern, Bracken, Tara. Ref. IRVINE, MAIDEN, WATT, SUTTON.


Last update Thursday, February 26, 1998 by aw