The Eskimo potato is a type of edible plant that grows in the northern areas of Canada and Alaska. The plant's scientific is name variously attributed as either Claytonia tuberosa (Inuit: oatkuk) or Hedysarum alpinum

Hedysarum alpinum

Hedysarum alpinum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name alpine sweetvetch. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere...

(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

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

. 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; for instance, Christopher McCandless

Christopher McCandless

Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American hitchhiker who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live for a time in solitude...

used the plant as a food source while he survived in the Alaska wilderness.