Arundinaria japonica. Arundinaria macrosperma.

Arundinaria japonica Sieb. & Zucc. Gramineae. Cane.

Northern Japan. When the young shoots appear in early summer, they are carefully gathered and, under the name of take-no-ko, are used for food as we would employ young asparagus; though by no means so tender as the latter, they make a very desirable dish.

Arundinaria macrosperma Michx. Large Cane.

North America. This is the species of cane which forms cane brakes in Virginia, Kentucky and southward. Flint, in his Western States, says: "It produces an abundant crop of seed with heads very like those of broom corn. The seeds are farinaceous and are said to be not much inferior to wheat, for which the Indians and occasionally the first settlers substituted it."


Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.