[LMB] SP: (Legacy) Plunkins ?= wapato

[Dan Tilque]

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I wonder how much the fictional plunkin was influenced by the
real life wapato. The wapato is an aquatic plant found in swamps
all over North America, and was a significant food plant for
Indians in the Pacific northwest. Here's an article on them:
http://www.wwmag.net/wapato.htm . I believe I've mentioned them
on this list before, so I wonder if Lois got the idea for
plunkins from that.

The similarities are mainly that both grow in shallow water with
muddy bottoms. They also are (or were) staple foods of their
respective harvesters. Dissimilarities include the time of
harvest (plunkin in summer; wapato in winter, although they can
be found for about 10 months of the year) and the size (plunkins
are bigger).

The taste is probably also different. As you can see from the
linked page, wapato has a bitter taste when raw but most of that
bitterness disappears when cooked. Plunkins apparently taste the
same whether raw or cooked. I've never eaten a wapato, so I don't
know if you can get tired of eating them as you can of plunkins.

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--
Dan Tilque