THE COW TREE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1701, 2 August 1879, Page 3

THE COW TREE.

Since the reading of a paper by the chemist, Boussiugault, before the French Academy, a few mouths ago, on the subject of the ‘‘cow tree,” or Palo de Vaoa, considerable attention has been attracted to the subject. This tree, which was discovered by Humbolt, belongs to the same natural order (Artocapace;e) as the poisonous upas ■tree of Java But there are other trees known (perhaps not so well known to the general reader), the milky juice of which .possesses similar properties to a greater or less extent—for instance, the ‘‘cow tree of Demerara,” which was first observed by a traveller named Smith, in an excursion up that river. It is described as a tree from •thirty to forty feet high, with a diameter at the base of nearly eighteen inches. The tree is known to botanists as Tabermomontana util's, and to the natives as ‘‘Hyahya.” It belongs to the same natural order (Apocynace;e) as ■ the P< nang indiarubber tree and the poison tree of Madagascar (Cerbera tanghiu), and our common American dog’s bane. It occurs in great abundance in the forests of British Guiana, and its bark and pith are so rich in milk that a moderately sized stem which was felled on the bank of a forest stream colored the water, in the course of an hour, quite white and milky. The milk is said to be much thicker and richer than cow’s milk, and is perfectly innocuous and of a pleasant flavor, the natives using it as a refreshing beverage, and in all respects an animal milk. The Cingalese also have a tree, called by them the “Kiriaghutna,” but behnqing to a different natural order of plants, the /■ sclopiadacere, which also includes our common milkweeds or silk weeds. This tree is the Gymuema lactiferum of botanists, and yields a very pleasant tasted milk, which is employed for domestic purposes in Ceylon. There appears to be' also a milk tree common in the forests about Para, and called by the natives the “ massenodendron,” but of which we have little definite knowledge, except that it was for a long time used on board of one of the vessels of the British navy cruising in Brazilian waters. It was said to suffer no chemical change by keeping, nor to show any tendency to sour. Another milk tree is the “ tabaya dolce ” ( Kuphorhla halsamifera), of the Canaries. This plant again belongs to a different natural order from any of the foregoing, namely, the Enphnr hiacece, and one containing a largo number of plants with acrid, purgative, and poisonous juices. Leopold von Buch states that the juice of this plant is similar to sweet milk, and, thickened into a jelly, is eaten as a delicacy. A spec’es of cactus (C. Mamillaru) also yields a milky juice equally sweet and wholesome. The milk is stated, horvever, to bo much inferior in quality to the majority of the above. The caoißchouc, or India rubber of commerce, as it exudes from the tree, greatly resembles milk in color and density.