THE STAFF-TREE, CELASTRUS SCANDEXS, AS 

 A FORMER FOOD SUPPLY OF 

 STARVING INDIANS 



FRAXK T. DILLINGHAM 



In many kinds of hard and horny seeds there is present, as a 

 reserve material, a carbohydrate which upon hydrolysis yields 

 mannose (a simple sugar closely related to glucose). This carbo- 

 hydrate has been named mannan. It is one of the hemi-celluloses, 

 a group of substances closely resembling in appearance the true 

 celluloses, but easily resolved into simpler carbohydrates by the 

 hydrolytic action of enzymes or of dilute acids. There is no lack 

 of evidence that mannan which occurs abundantly in the so-called 

 vegetable ivory, Phytelephas macrocarpa, and in the seeds of many 

 other palms, as well as in the wood of coniferous trees, is in spite 

 of its hardness, fit food for camels, neat cattle, sheep, and various 

 rodents. This is illustrated in the girdling of pine trees by mice, 

 as recorded by Thoreau in "Walden."^ He says:— "There 



inches in <lianirtrr, ul!ich lia<l been unnued by mice tl.r ,.re\inns 



deep, and thev uo.v cbliool to uiix :i hn-c proportion of pine 

 bark with their other diet. The^e tree^ wore aliNc an<l apparently 

 flourishing at mid-summer, and many of them had grown a foot, 

 though completely girdled; but after another winter such were 

 without exception dead. It is remarkable that a single mouse 

 should thus be allowed a wliole pine tree I'or its dinner, gnawing 

 round instead of up and down it; but perliaps i( i.> ntM("->an ni 

 order to thin these tn^N. which are wont to urow up densely. 



It is known that the root of a .lai)anesf j)huit, ( 'oiioplialliis 

 komijaku, rich in mannan is used as human tood, and tlie (piestion 

 may fairly be asked whether the former n.e of bark brea.l by the 

 inhabitants of Scandinavia miglu nor ha\e been deix-ndent up<m 

 the mannan in the bark. After di.cu^Mn- thi. matter in the 



'Walden, p. 300. Jas. R. Osgood & Co. B<.>f(.n. IMH 



