BREAD PLANTS 59 



trunk is used in canoe and house building. Seams 

 of boats are closed with a glue made of the sticky, 

 milky juice that exudes from wounds in the bark. 

 The fruit is often piled into pits, where it be- 

 comes a soft, ill-smelling mass. But it still is a 

 nutritious food when baked. The better way to 

 preserve the fruit for future use is to dry thin 

 slices. These slices may be baked as they are, and 

 eaten," or first ground into meal and made into 

 puddings and other dishes. 



ARROWROOT PLANTS 



The starch that physicians prescribe for children 

 and invalids with certain forms of indigestion is 

 called arrowroot. It is fine-grained, and has the 

 peculiar characteristic of gathering into little balls 

 when a pinch of it is rubbed between the thumb 

 and finger. Stirred in boiling water, it forms a 

 clear, odorless jelly, palatable and easily digested, 

 if unadulterated in manufacture. Under the 

 microscope the small grains are distinctly seen, 

 and it is very easy to see the larger grains of potato 

 starch with which the more expensive arrowroot 

 is so often mixed. 



Bermuda arrowroot is made from the fleshy 

 rootstocks of a many-stemmed, reed-like plant 



