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Slippery-Elm

Categories: 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 outli
e 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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