From complex to simple: balsamroot, inulin, and the chemistry of traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking technologyThis paper was submitted for the Special Issue on Ethnobotany, inspired by the Ethnobotany Symposium organized by Alain Cuerrier, Montréal Botanical Garden, and held in Montréal at the 2006 annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association/l’Association Botanique du Canada.

This paper presents the results of an experiment replicating traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking methods to process balsamroot ( Balsamorhiza sagittata (Pursh) Nutt.), a former food staple that contains the complex carbohydrate inulin. Analysis of fresh and cooked balsamroot samples reveals that with sufficient heat, moisture, and the release of volatile organic acids, inulin is hydrolyzed during pit cooking. This process converts complex carbohydrates into simple ones, resulting in an increase of 250% in the energy provided by simple sugars. When the average energy contributions of protein, simple and complex carbohydrates are tallied, the net result is an energy gain of approximately 65% between fresh and pit-cooked balsamroot. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of ancient pit-cooking practices in transforming unpalatable and inedible root resources into sweet-tasting, highly digestible sources of carbohydrate energy and supports my assertion that this processing technology was a key component of the wild plant food production systems of Interior Salish Peoples.

Sources of morphological variation and organization within and among populations of Balsamorhiza sagittata

Comparisons of differences between morphological means of individual plant parts indicate that the greatest source of variation in two populations of Balsamorhiza sagittata is the individual plants within populations; within-population diversity is greater than among-population diversity. Variable covariance and correlations differ between individual plants and there are subgroups of interrelated variables that can be tied to developmental phenomena. The relationship between developmental phenomena and these groups of variables suggests a relationship between organizational, as reflected in variable interrelationships, and ontogenetic variation. These results are not adequately explained by neoDarwinian theory but are explained more comprehensively by a theory of evolution that views biological change over time as an intrinsically driven self-organization, accompanied by an increase in complexity (a manifestation of the "Second Law of Thermodynamics" as it applies to open systems).

The Galls caused by Anguillulina balsamophila (Thorne) Goodey on the leaves of Wyethia amplexicaulis Nutt. and Balsamorhiza sagittata Nutt

The gall-forming nematode, Anguillulina balsamophila (Thorne) Goodey has been described by Thorne (1926) who figures a photograph of a galled leaf of Balsamorhiza sagittata. Thorne gives a brief description of the superficial appearance of the galled leaves and mentions that the heavily infested plants are often very stunted. He recorded the parasite on three hosts, two species of Balsam-root, Balsamorhiza sagittata Nutt., B. macrophylla Nutt. and Mule-ear, Wyethia amplexicaulis Nutt. Later Steiner and Buhrer (1933) reported the parasite from the annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus L. collected and identified by W. D. Courtney. The detailed structure, however, of the gall has not so far been described and as suitable material was to hand, this paper is the result of some observations made on the gall structure.