About Lomatium cous (S.Watson) J.M.Coult. & Rose
Lomatium cous, commonly known as cous biscuitroot, is a perennial herb in the Apiaceae plant family. Indigenous tribes of the southern plateau of the Pacific Northwest prize this species' root as food. Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen of this plant in 1806 during his expedition. It has multiple Indigenous names: it is called x̣áwš in the Sahaptin language. In the Nez Perce language, it is called qáamsit when fresh, and qáams when peeled and dried. The Chinook people call it shappelell. Meriwether Lewis wrote on Friday, January 9, 1806: "... and a kind of bisquit, which the natives make of roots called by them shappelell." This quote appears in The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark, Down the Columbia to Fort Clatsop, which is volume 6 of the Nebraska Edition, edited by Gary E. Moulton and published 1990 by University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
