332 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1910 



ceived from travelers the name of "Water-tree." It was 

 met with by Prof. James Orton in the Napo country of 

 Ecuador, where it is called by the Indians "Huadhuas." 

 According to the Professor the stem of this plant, when cut 

 across, sometimes yields between each joint at least two 

 quarts of pure water, which is used by the Indians as a 

 refreshing beverage. 



The Rev. Charles Kingsley, in describing the forests of 

 Trinidad, mentions a "Water-vine" about as thick as a 

 man's arm, which ascends the tallest trees, and which a 

 woodsman, when he observes it, will climb and, with a few 

 blows of his cutlass, will sever as high as he can reach, and 

 again sever some three feet below; and then, lifting the 

 section on high, and throwing his head back, will pour 

 down his throat a pint or more of pure cold water. Mr. 

 Kingsley's description would apply to some of the passion 

 flower vines, which, possessing a remarkably porous inter- 

 nal structure, usually contain a large quantity of water. 

 Some years ago the stem of one of the tropical species 

 under cultivation at the Kew Gardens, upon being cut, 

 yielded nearly a gallon of pure water in less than a minute. 

 In Australia, much ingenuity is shown in the discovery of 

 water by the natives, who, owing to the death of this bever- 

 age in many parts of that country, are often obliged to re- 

 sort to curious methods of obtaining enough to support life. 

 Even when in desert regions where no water is visible, the 

 native will generally manage to obtain sufliicient to supply 

 his necessities from the roots of certain Eucalypti, which, 

 being very tall, can be seen from a great distance. Having 

 sighted a group of these and reached it, often after travel- 

 ing several miles, he proceeds to clear away the earth with 

 his "katta," or digging stick, so as to expose the roots. 

 Then tearing the latter out of the ground, he cuts them into 

 pieces of about a foot in length and stands each piece up- 

 right in a bark vessel that he usually carries with him, and 

 patiently waits. Presently a few drops of liquid ooze out 

 from the bottom of the pieces of root, and in a short time 

 the water pours out so freely that an abundant supply of 

 it is obtained. 



The genus "Adansonia" is represented in northwestern 

 Australia by the "Gonty Stem Tree," the wood of which is 

 exceedingly soft and contains in its pores a certain quantity 

 of water, which is easily extracted by pressure, and, to trav- 

 elers in the dry sandy plains upon which the tree grows, 

 affords a most grateful beverage. 



One of the most beautiful, remarkable and useful plants 

 peculiar to Madagascar is the "Traveler's Tree." By the 

 natives it is called "Ravinala," a word meaning "leaf of the 

 forest," as if it were the leaf by which the forest is charac- 

 terized — this, indeed, being the fact where the plant 

 abounds. This tree, which belongs to the same family as 

 the banana and plantain, has a thick stem from the center 

 of which proceed broad leaves from four to six feet in 

 length that rise in two rows on stalks six to eight feet long. 

 The tree has long been celebrated for storing, even during 

 the most arid season, a large quantity of water, which Is 

 so cool, pure and sweet that the natives when at work in the 

 vicinity never take the trouble to seek a stream, but draw 

 off and drink the liquid afforded by the plant. There is a 

 kind of natural cistern at the base of the stalk of each leaf, 

 and the water which has been collected upon the broad and 

 ribbed surface of the latter flows down a gutter on the 

 upper side of the stalk into this reservoir, where, during the 

 dry season, it supplies nourishment to the tree and refresh- 

 ment to the traveler and laborer. 



The "Silk-cotton Tree" (Ceiba) of Brazil likewise stores 

 up a large quantity of water. "Some of these trees," says 

 an old writer, "are hollow, and from the liberal skies re- 

 ceive such plenty of water that they are hospitable enter- 

 tainers of thousands in that thirsty region. Once I have 

 known three or four thousand to remain at one of those 



trees, and thence receive their watery provision for twenty- 

 four hours and not yet empty it. I think some one tree 

 holds forty ton of water." 



Some of the West Indian and South and Central Amer- 

 ican species of Tillandsia, called "Wild Pines," with leaves 

 sometimes three and a half feet long, constitute large reser- 

 voirs for rain water. This, flowing down the sides of the 

 stiff channeled leaves, collects in the reservoir in quantities 

 of from a pint to a quart, and affords thirsty travelers a 

 refreshing beverage. "When we find these pines," says 

 Captain Dampier, the buccaneer, "we stick our knives into 

 the leaves just above the root, and that lets out the water, 

 which we catch in our hats, as I have done many times to my 

 great relief." 



On the high plains of Mexico, where water is scarce, the 

 "Hedge-hog Thistles" (Echinocacti) and the "Torch This- 

 tles" (Cerei), when young supply drink to numerous herds 

 of cattle and half-wild horses. The watery juice of these 

 plants is eagerly sought by such animals, and is highly 

 valued by the Indians, too, for its cooling and refreshing 

 qualities. Travelers passing through the cactus wastes of 

 the southwest, often, in order to allay their thirst, resort to 

 the "Hedge-hog Cactus," the interior of which contains a 

 substance full of water, which, extracted by chewing, proves 

 very refreshing. It is owing to this capacity for storing 

 water that some of the Cacti have been called "Vegetable 

 Fountains in the Desert." 



Most of the plants belonging to the Sponge family have 

 a milky juice which is more or less acid and poisonous. 

 Yet the botanist Berthelot states that the shepherds of 

 Teneriffe, when thirsty, remove the bark of a cactus-like 

 species growing in the arid, rocky districts of the island, 

 and quaff the watery juice that abounds in the inner portion 

 of the stem. 



According to the Spanish botanists Ruiz and Puon, the 

 seeds of the "Ivory Palm," which, when ripe, constitute the 

 ivory nuts of commerce, are, when young, filled with a clear 

 tasteless fluid with which travelers are accustomed to allay 

 their thirst. Owing to the size of the seed and the number 

 (six to nine) on each fruit, the quantity of fluid yielded by 

 each plant is sufficient to supply the needs of a number of 

 persons. 



The plains of South Africa are great wildernesses of 

 sand that are exposed to droughts of long duration. Yet 

 even during these there exist vegetable water sources be- 

 neath the surface. Livingstone mentions a plant of which 

 the root proves a genuine blessing to the inhabitants of the 

 Desert of Kalahari under such circumstances. This plant, 

 called by the natives "Leroshua," is provided, at a foot or 

 more beneath the surface, with a tuber as large as a child's 

 head. 



When the rind of this Is removed, the Interior of 

 the tuber is found to consist of a mass of cellular tissue 

 filled with fluid which is deliciously cool and refreshing. A 

 similar plant, says, the same author, is found in the Mopane 

 country, where long-continued heat parches the soil. This 

 plant, called "Mokuri," is provided with a number of tubers 

 as large as a man's head, which, like the one above men- 

 tioned, are filled with a refreshing liquid with which the 

 natives slake their thirst. 



We have some examples of vegetable water reservoirs on 

 our own continent. Thus, for example, to the Pah Ute 

 Indians, when on their hunting excursions, drink is afforded 

 by the white and watery portions of a species of broom- 

 rape, which grows in the sandy soil of the western plains. 

 Farther south, in the sandy desert of Sonora, nature has 

 provided as a source of both drink and food for man a 

 curious parasitic plant, the Ammobroma Sonorae, which 

 grows deep In the sand. This plant contains in its tissues a 

 certain amount of water which is sought by both the whites 

 and Indians when they become thirsty in traveling. 



