"Calla Lilies" -"Arum Lilies" - notes on word usage
diana chapman (Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:36:03 PDT)
Now I can't remember what the silly
name was - Indian lily? Indian something, anyway.
It was probably Indian potatoes. How that ever came about is anyone's
guess, but even some of my Indian friends call the bulbs that were dug for
food (Calochortus, Brodiaea and Camassia) Indian potatoes, and you find this
term in many books. Of course, the Indians who used these bulbs for food
had never set eyes on a potato.
Diana
Telos