USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



epidermis of Yucca leaves, split into narrow strips, 

 makes a coarse basket material, serviceable more- 

 over as a cord substitute for tying and jacketing 

 articles to be bung up, as bams and watermelons. 

 In tbe East the same may be done with the strong, 

 fibrous bark of the Moose-wood or Leather-wood 

 (Dirca palustris, L.), the hois de plomh of the 

 French-Canadians. It is a deciduous shrub, two to 

 six feet high, much branched and characterized by 

 a tough bark, suggesting leather in its pliability, the 

 pale greenish flowers preceding the leaves in small 

 terminal fascicles in early spring. Danlp woodlands 

 are its favorite home, from Canada to the Gulf and 

 eastward from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. 



A good string may also be made by twisting the 

 fiber obtained from the common Reed-grass {Phrag- 

 mites communis, Trin.), — the Carrizo of the South- 

 west, — ^whose tall, straight canes crowned with silky, 

 plume-like floral panicles, form a conspicuous 

 feature in swamps and damp places throughout the 

 United States and Canada. At a distance they 

 present the general appearance of Broom-corn. A 

 peculiarity of this reed that excited the curiosity 

 of observant explorers half a century or so ago, 

 was utilized by some of the Indian tribes to minister 

 to their taste for sugar. Owing to the attacks of 



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