Name/Title
White Apple (Psoralea esculenta)Entry/Object ID
2021.1.35 BScope and Content
White Apple (Psoralea esculenta) plant description, framed.
Native to the American prairies, the White Apple is a perennial plant of up to a foot tall that grows on hillsides, bluffs, stream valleys and open woodlands. Its bluish-purple flowers on dense spies bloom during May and June. The root of the White Apple was one of the most important foods gathered by the Plains Indians, as it was a staple in their diet.
Meriwether Lewis gave a lengthy description of the White Apple or, as the French engages called it, Pomme de Terre on May 8, 1805. He wrote of how the Indians used the roots; "when collected they are striped of their rhind and strung on small throngs or chords and exposed to the sun or plased in the smoke of their fires to dry; when well dryed they will keep for several years... in this situation they usually pound them between two stones placed on a piece of parchment, untill they reduce it to a fine powder, thus prepared they thicken their soop with it; sometimes they also boil these dryed roots with their meat without breaking them; when green they are generally boiled with their meat...they also prepare an agreeable dish with them by oiling and mashing them and adding the marrow grease of the buffaloe and some burries, until the whole be of the consistency of a haisty pudding. they also eat this root roasted and frequently make hearty meals of it raw without sustaining any inconvenience or injury therefrom." After this description, Lewis concluded that "the white apple appears to me to be a tastless insipped food...,tho' I have no doubt but it is a very healthy and moderately nutricious food."Context
Originally designed by the St. Joseph Museum in the fall of 2004. Titled "Botanical Wonders of the Uncharted West. The Recorded Flora of the Lewis & Clark Expedition."Collection
Lewis and ClarkLexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Botanical drawings, Expeditions & surveysArchive Items Details
Title
White Apple (Psoralea esculenta)Creator
Mary L. FletcherDate(s) of Creation
2004Subjects
Plants, Watercolor paintingsParts
Count
2Parts
Watercolor of plant and descriptive label, both framed.Condition
Overall Condition
Very GoodProvenance
Notes
"Botanical Wonders of the Uncharted West" visually depicts how well Lewis followed Jefferson's instructions. In recognition of this achievement, The S. Joseph Museums, Inc. commissioned accomplished artist Mary Fletcher to create fifty (50) selected paintings of flora documented by the Corps during their Journey. These framed watercolor originals are accompanied by similarly framed labels, generated by former Head of Research Jackie Lewin, which describe the corresponding plants with appropriate quotations from the Journals. This collection makes available for study and appreciation plants that were new to Lewis and Clark, but which Native Peoples already recognized as valuable sources of food, medicine, and tools. Some of these still remain a mystery to many, but all will enjoy their beauty, their diverse uses, and their accomplished renderings.