My flowers may be small,
But my leaves make it up.
They are ranged with good taste,
And taste good when you sup.
 |
| A wild patch of Miner's Lettuce. |
Have you ever used Miner's Lettuce for your play parties? We used to eat it when I was a little girl. The Forty-Niners were very glad to eat it. It was a fine change from the beans they had at every meal. You know who the Forty-Niners were?
They were the men who came to California in 1849. They came to find the beautiful yellow gold that had just been discovered in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were no roads to the Mountains in those days. It was hard work to get to the gold fields.
Sometimes a miner could buy a horse near the Coast and pack what he needed on its back. Then he led it through the rough country many miles to the bank of some river. The river was carrying gold down from the mountains. The miner camped on the river bank. He found the yellow gold in the river sands.
But most times, the miner could not find a horse to buy. Then, he packed his blanket and tools and food on his own back. His blanket and pick and frying pan were heavy, so he took light weight food. He often carried just flour and salt and beans. Then, for weeks at a time, he would have flap-jacks and frijoles for three meals a day. How would you like to eat them three times a day with nothing else? Even if you were living out in the open air day and night and working hard, you would get tired of them I think!
Think how glad the miner was to find a bed of this fresh lettuce. He used to eat all he could get. That is why in California we call this plant Miner's Lettuce.
Sometimes it is called "Indian Lettuce." That is because the Native Americans were fond of it. Often, they planted this kind of wild lettuce near the hills of the Red Ant. The Ants, as they went about their own business, crossed back and forth over the lettuce. After a while, the natives would pick and shake the ant's from the leaves. They believed that the insects gave this plant a nicer sour flavor.
The natives also cooked the lettuce. They filled a basket with water. They put a hot rock into the water. When the rock was cool enough, they took it out and put another hot one in. They kept putting in hot rocks until the water boiled. Then, they put in the lettuce leaves and cooked them. It tasted something like spinach. The Native Americans knew it would make them healthy, just as your Mother knows that spinach will make you healthy.
Let us look at the Miner's Lettuce. Take a stalk in your hand. See how tiny the white flowers are. If they grew on little stalks near the ground, would they catch the eye of the flying insect? You can see that they would not.
Mrs. Miner's Lettuce, a long long time ago, learned that they would not. Even when she raised the stem up higher, the bees did not stop to look at such tiny flowers. So, she tried a new plan to make them look at her. She put two leaves high up on the stem and joined them together around the stem. She pushed the stem up higher than these leaves. Then she sent the flowers out on this top stem. They now show out very well against the green leaf circle.
When Mrs. Bee is hurrying through the air, her eye is caught by something white on a green circle swaying on a slender stem.
"Buzz! Buzz! What is this? It looks like food. I'll have a try at it."
Down she swoops.
"Buzz! Buzz! It tastes like food." She eats all the sweets in that flower.
"Buzz! Buzz! How good that is this hot day. I must have more of it..."
She goes from one Miner's Lettuce flower to another and then to another until she can eat no more.
And you know that that is just what Mrs. Miner's Lettuce wants. You know now that when Mrs. Bee sipped at one flower, she got pollen from the stamens on her legs. She carried it to the next flower. Here the top of the pistil scraped it off her legs and sent it down to make the ovules into seeds.
Look for yourself at the Miner's Lettuce flower. How many petals has it? Is the corolla the same color in different flowers? Do all the buds on one stem bloom out at the same time? How many sepals has a flower? Can you count the stamens? Have you seen the seeds when they are ripe? They are black and shining.
Some warm afternoon, when you feel lazy‚the best of us feel lazy some warm afternoons‚ just lie down by a Miner's Lettuce bed. Fix your eyes on a seed-case that is ripe. If you watch closely, you will see it curl inward into three parts. Then, pop! Out go the little black shining seeds. The seed-case throws them out so that they will not fall beneath the leaves of its own plant. If they fell beneath the plant, they would not get sunshine to make them grow. When the seedcase throws them out, they have a chance to fall upon some bare spot of earth. Then, the dew wets them and they get heavy and sink into the earth. Soon, the sun calls them, and they send out green leaves.
Do these leaves near the ground look like the ones near the flowers? Are the ones near the flowers all the same shape? Do they all turn the same way? Which leaf is easier to draw, the one at the ground or the one in the air? Which tastes the best? You need not be afraid to eat as many as you want. They are not like candy. They will help make good blood and good bones. They will keep you healthy, to-day, just as they kept the miners healthy in 1849.
They were the men who came to California in 1849. They came to find the beautiful yellow gold that had just been discovered in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were no roads to the Mountains in those days. It was hard work to get to the gold fields.
Sometimes a miner could buy a horse near the Coast and pack what he needed on its back. Then he led it through the rough country many miles to the bank of some river. The river was carrying gold down from the mountains. The miner camped on the river bank. He found the yellow gold in the river sands.
But most times, the miner could not find a horse to buy. Then, he packed his blanket and tools and food on his own back. His blanket and pick and frying pan were heavy, so he took light weight food. He often carried just flour and salt and beans. Then, for weeks at a time, he would have flap-jacks and frijoles for three meals a day. How would you like to eat them three times a day with nothing else? Even if you were living out in the open air day and night and working hard, you would get tired of them I think!
Think how glad the miner was to find a bed of this fresh lettuce. He used to eat all he could get. That is why in California we call this plant Miner's Lettuce.
Sometimes it is called "Indian Lettuce." That is because the Native Americans were fond of it. Often, they planted this kind of wild lettuce near the hills of the Red Ant. The Ants, as they went about their own business, crossed back and forth over the lettuce. After a while, the natives would pick and shake the ant's from the leaves. They believed that the insects gave this plant a nicer sour flavor.
The natives also cooked the lettuce. They filled a basket with water. They put a hot rock into the water. When the rock was cool enough, they took it out and put another hot one in. They kept putting in hot rocks until the water boiled. Then, they put in the lettuce leaves and cooked them. It tasted something like spinach. The Native Americans knew it would make them healthy, just as your Mother knows that spinach will make you healthy.
Let us look at the Miner's Lettuce. Take a stalk in your hand. See how tiny the white flowers are. If they grew on little stalks near the ground, would they catch the eye of the flying insect? You can see that they would not.
Mrs. Miner's Lettuce, a long long time ago, learned that they would not. Even when she raised the stem up higher, the bees did not stop to look at such tiny flowers. So, she tried a new plan to make them look at her. She put two leaves high up on the stem and joined them together around the stem. She pushed the stem up higher than these leaves. Then she sent the flowers out on this top stem. They now show out very well against the green leaf circle.
When Mrs. Bee is hurrying through the air, her eye is caught by something white on a green circle swaying on a slender stem.
"Buzz! Buzz! What is this? It looks like food. I'll have a try at it."
Down she swoops.
"Buzz! Buzz! It tastes like food." She eats all the sweets in that flower.
"Buzz! Buzz! How good that is this hot day. I must have more of it..."
She goes from one Miner's Lettuce flower to another and then to another until she can eat no more.
And you know that that is just what Mrs. Miner's Lettuce wants. You know now that when Mrs. Bee sipped at one flower, she got pollen from the stamens on her legs. She carried it to the next flower. Here the top of the pistil scraped it off her legs and sent it down to make the ovules into seeds.
Look for yourself at the Miner's Lettuce flower. How many petals has it? Is the corolla the same color in different flowers? Do all the buds on one stem bloom out at the same time? How many sepals has a flower? Can you count the stamens? Have you seen the seeds when they are ripe? They are black and shining.
Some warm afternoon, when you feel lazy‚the best of us feel lazy some warm afternoons‚ just lie down by a Miner's Lettuce bed. Fix your eyes on a seed-case that is ripe. If you watch closely, you will see it curl inward into three parts. Then, pop! Out go the little black shining seeds. The seed-case throws them out so that they will not fall beneath the leaves of its own plant. If they fell beneath the plant, they would not get sunshine to make them grow. When the seedcase throws them out, they have a chance to fall upon some bare spot of earth. Then, the dew wets them and they get heavy and sink into the earth. Soon, the sun calls them, and they send out green leaves.
Do these leaves near the ground look like the ones near the flowers? Are the ones near the flowers all the same shape? Do they all turn the same way? Which leaf is easier to draw, the one at the ground or the one in the air? Which tastes the best? You need not be afraid to eat as many as you want. They are not like candy. They will help make good blood and good bones. They will keep you healthy, to-day, just as they kept the miners healthy in 1849.
Miner's Lettuce - Amazing Vegetable by Khang Starr
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