Queer Trees and Near-Trees— All Are Useful 



Although the spongy wood of the silk-cotton tree, found 

 principally in Jamaica, West Indies, is too light to 

 be of commercial value, the natives make canoes out of 

 it and fill pillows and cushions with its long silky threads. 

 Its root - formations make the tree earthquake-proof 



Bamboo belongs to the grass family, although 

 its tall stalks resemble saplings. As material 

 for rafts, fishing poles and even for houses 

 it has been in use since the world was young. 

 Orientals consider the young shoots, which 

 resemble asparagus, a nutritious food 



The banyan tree, on account of its habit of 

 putting forth numberless trunks to support 

 its branches, thus crowding out all other 

 trees, is regarded as a robber and murderer. 

 But it yields rubber equal to Para — and 

 once, centuries ago, it shdtered a Buddha 



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