392 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XLI 



Bulletin of the Bussey Institution (1906, Vol. 3, pp. 120-128), 

 the writer learned that some tribes of North American Indians in 

 times of extreme dearth were accustomed to keep body and soul 

 together by boiling and eating the bark of the Staff-tree, Celastrus 

 scandens. The Staff-tree is also called the staff-vine; false, 

 climbing or shrubby bittersweet; wax-work, fever-twig, yellow- 

 root, climbing orange-root and Jacob's ladder. 



Radisson, wintering near the outlet of Lake Superior about 

 the year 1G58, found the Indians suffering greatly from starvation 

 He writes:'— "Those that have any life seeketh out for roots, 

 which could not be done without great difficulty, the earth being 

 frozen 2 or 3 feet deep, and the snow 5 or 6 above it. The greatest 

 subsistence that we can have is of rind tree which grows like ivy 

 about the trees; but to swallow it, we cut the stick some 2 foot 

 long, tying it in fagot, and boil it, and when it boils one hour or 

 two the rind or skin comes off with ease, we take and dry it in 

 the smoke and then reduce it into powder betwixt two grain stones, 

 and putting the kettle with the same water upon the fire, we make 

 it a kind of broth which nourishes us, but become thirstier and 

 drier than the wood we ate." 



In the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture for 1870, 

 (p. 422), there is the following statement:— "The Chippewa 

 Indians use as food the tender brandies of the Stuff tree (Celastrus 

 scandens). This climbing shrub, the hoi.s- rdor.s of the French, 

 or twisted wood, is sometimes called hhirr sweet. It has a thick 

 bark and is sweetish and palatable when boiled." 



In view of the above statements, specimens of both the bark and 

 the wood of the Staft-tree were tested for mannan. On the 

 grounds of the Bussey Institution, on Jan. 24th, 1907, branches of 

 the Staff-tree were cut in pieces about one foot in length. Both 

 the inner and outer bark were removed together, no attempt 

 being made to separate them. The outer bark was thin, but the 

 inner bark was thick and fleshy. The material was carefully 

 <lii<(l, ground to a fine meal, and a weighed (|uantity of it was 

 l)()iltMj with dilute hydrochloric acid for three hoiu-s. A small 

 portion of the liijuor thus obtained was neutralized with sodium 

 hydroxide and examined for mannose by the addition of a few 



' Voyages of P. E. Radisson. p. 204, Prince Society Edition, Boston, 1885. 



