Anyone know what is this tea plant that Rufus Sage describes in his "Rocky Mountain Life; 1841", Chapter III?
"In this vicinity a species of shrub, which I had before noticed in various paces, (designated as "red-root" by our voyageurs,) became quite abundant. The red-root is highly esteemed as a substitute for tea, and my own experience attests its superiority of flavor to any article of that kind imported from China. In appearance it is very similar to the tea of commerce, and it affords at all times a most excellent beverage. It is found only upon the prairies between the frontiers and Big Blue, and in some portions of the Rocky Mountains."
His location if it helps was; "Leaving Big Vermilion, we travelled rapidly the two days subsequent, and arrived at the North Fork of Blue, ””a large and deep stream, tributary to the Kansas. We were here detained till the 24th””the creek being impassable on account of high water."
"In this vicinity a species of shrub, which I had before noticed in various paces, (designated as "red-root" by our voyageurs,) became quite abundant. The red-root is highly esteemed as a substitute for tea, and my own experience attests its superiority of flavor to any article of that kind imported from China. In appearance it is very similar to the tea of commerce, and it affords at all times a most excellent beverage. It is found only upon the prairies between the frontiers and Big Blue, and in some portions of the Rocky Mountains."
His location if it helps was; "Leaving Big Vermilion, we travelled rapidly the two days subsequent, and arrived at the North Fork of Blue, ””a large and deep stream, tributary to the Kansas. We were here detained till the 24th””the creek being impassable on account of high water."
