Plants are the basis of agricultural societies, and there are many South American plant origin myths. Some South American Indians say that vegetables grew first on a tree of life. Some tell agricultural myths involving sacrificial planting and rebirth of sacred beings, much as in the myths of the North American Corn Mother. Many of the Peruvian Indians, including the Inca, tell how the first people were starving until Pachacamac, a culture hero, impregnated a woman, then dismembered and “planted” her child, who “returned” in the spring as edible plants.