page_title: Eskimo potato
hierarchical_section_title: Eskimo potato
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo: B4261008, Plant in habitat. Plant growing on slumping silt banks in Nunavut, near Rankin Inlet, at Pedung Creek, Kaminak Lake, between Esquimo Point and Rankin Inlet, 22 July 1973, elevation 173 feet, J.M. Gillett 16149. CAN. Photo reproduced courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada.
context_page_description: The Eskimo potato is a type of edible plant that grows in the northern areas of Canada and Alaska. It can be used in the state's famous Alaskan potato and egg breakfast tacos. The plant's scientific name is variously attributed as either Claytonia tuberosa or Hedysarum alpinum. Both species have a range in the northern area of North America, have edible roots, and have been documented to have been used as a food source by Inuit peoples. Due to its nutritional qualities, the eskimo potato is one of many edible foods listed in survival guides, such as the US Army's field manual Survival, and is used in modern times to subsist in nature.
  Christopher McCandless used the plant as a food source while he survived in the Alaska wilderness. However, while the tubers are edible, it is suspected that the ingestion of seeds from this plant caused McCandless' death.
context_section_description: The Eskimo potato is a type of edible plant that grows in the northern areas of Canada and Alaska.  It can be used in the state's famous Alaskan potato and egg breakfast tacos.  The plant's scientific name is variously attributed as either Claytonia tuberosa (Inuit: oatkuk) or Hedysarum alpinum (Inuit: mashu). Both species have a range in the northern area of North America, have edible roots, and have been documented to have been used as a food source by Inuit peoples.  Due to its nutritional qualities, the eskimo potato is one of many edible foods listed in survival guides, such as the US Army's field manual Survival, and is used in modern times to subsist in nature.
  Christopher McCandless used the plant as a food source while he survived in the Alaska wilderness.  However, while the tubers are edible, it is suspected that the ingestion of seeds from this plant caused McCandless' death.
caption: A Hedysarum alpinum plant growing on silt, in Nunavut
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