Definition
breadroot
noun
- a plant of the pea family with an edible tuber, native to western North America and traditionally used as food by Indigenous peoples
Usage: also called prairie turnip or tipsin; botanical name: Pediomelum esculentum
Examples
- The Nez Perce people harvested breadroot in the spring and dried it for winter storage.
- Breadroot grows in the grasslands and prairies of the northwestern United States.
- The tuber of the breadroot plant is nutritious and was a staple food for many tribes.
- Ethnobotanists have documented the traditional uses of breadroot in Indigenous cuisine.
- Breadroot plants produce small purple flowers before their edible tubers develop underground.