Slippery-Elm
Category:
Vii Wild Food On The Trail
The inner bark and the root of the _slippery-elm_ are not only pleasant
to the taste but are said to be nutritious. They have a glutinous
quality that gives the tree its name, and the flavor is nutty and
substantial.
This variety of elm is common and is found from the Saint Lawrence River
to Florida. It grows to a height of sixty or seventy feet, with
spreading branches which flatten at the top. The outline of the tree is
much like that of a champagne-glass, wide at the top and narrow at the
stem. The slippery-elm resembles the white elm, but there are
differences by which you can know it. If you stroke the leaf of a white
elm you will find that it is rough one way but smooth the other; stroke
the leaf of the slippery-elm, and it will be rough _both_ ways. The buds
of the white elm are smooth, those of the slippery-elm are _hairy_. Then
you cannot mistake the inner bark of the slippery-elm, which is
fragrant, thick, and gummy. The outer bark is dark brown, with shallow
ridges and large, loose plates. The leaves are oblong, rounded at the
base, and are coarsely toothed. They are prominently veined and are dark
green, paler on the under side.
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Bark and Roots of Trees
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