Off Topic: Cochineal
Jane McGary (Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:22:31 PDT)

Not having a Nahuatl dictionary on the shelf -- my Native American
linguistic studies were well to the north of that -- I won't attempt to
answer the cacomitl query (though I could ask someone else if it's
crucial), but I can reply to Dennis's comment,
"As for Herbertia lahue being native to Chile... I thought that it was

In "Bulbs of North America," Michael Chelednik writes: "This species occurs
in heavy soils of coastal prairies in Louisiana and Texas but also in
southeastern South America, a curious distribution shared by a number of
bulbous plants including Habranthus tubispathus and Zephyranthes
chlorosolen; it has been speculated that all these were introduced from
South America, possibly by early Spanish missionaries."

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA