Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1889-08-16
THE COW TREE.
VEGETABLE JUICE THAT CLOSE
LY RESEMBLES MILK.
1t is Wholesome and is Used as
an Article of Food in Some
Places-Where the Cow
Trees Grow.

~-~N~~-~
terized by the secretion of fluid closely
resembling milk in appearance and con-
sistency, and familiar example of these
is to be seen in our common milkweed,
which is well known to everybody. In
some plants this milky fluid is of the
most venomous nature; in others, it pos
sesses active medicinal virtue; in others,
it yields product (such as India rubber
and gutta percha) of the highest impor-
tance to the arts and industries; and, in
others still, it proves of value as human
aliment. Since the same general proper
ties characterize the plants of each nat
ural family, it seems an anomaly that, in
the same order, we should find the species
of one genus producing lactescent fluid
of highly poisonous nature, and those of
another yielding one that is entirely in
nocuous. Yet such is often the case, and
we have striking example of it in the
bread fruit order, which on the one hand,
includes the celebrated upas tree of Java,
which, when pierced, exudes a milky
juice containing an acrid virulent poison
(antiarin), the smallest quantity of which
will kill the largest animal, and, on the
other, the famous Brosimum utili of South
America, which yields copious supply
of rich, wholesome milk, of as good a
quality as that from the COW.
There are several other instances in the
vegetable kingdom of such an associa-
ton, in the same natural order, of plants
that produce noxious lactescent juice
with Others which yield wholesome one
adapted for mans use, and which may,
therefore, be designated as vegetable
cows" To speak only of the latter class,
the most remarkable example in the spe-
cies of Brosimum just mentioned, which
was discovered and made known by the
celebrated traveller Humboldt. This tree
forms extensive forests on the mountains
near the town of Coriaco, and elsewhere
along the seacoast of Venezuela-grow-
ing to upward of 100 feet in height, with
a trunk six or eight feet In diameter, and
branchless for the first sixty or seventy
feet of its height. 1t is popularity known
as the COW tree, Palo de Vaca, or Arbol
de Leche. Its milk, which is obtained
by making inclsions in the trunk, so
closely resembles the milk of the COW,
both in appearance and quality, that it is
commonly used as an article of food by
the inhabitants of the places where the
tree is abundant. Unlike many other
vegetable milks, it is perfectly whole
some and very nourishing, possessing an
agreeable taste, like that of sweet cream,
and pleasant balsamic odor, its only un-
pleasant quality being a slight amount of
sickness. The chemical analysis of this
milk has shown it to possess a compost
ton closely resembling some animal sub
stances, and like animal milk, it quickly
forms a yellow, cheesy scum
upon its surface, and, after a
few days exposure to the atmos-
phere, turns sour and purifes. 1t con-
tains upward of thirty per cent. of a
resinous substance called galactin by
chemists. Speaking of this tree, Hum
boldt says: "They (the natives) profess
to recognize, from the color and thick
ness of the foliage, the trunks that yield
the most juice, as the herdsman dis
tinguishes from external signs of good
milch COW. Amidst the great number of
curious phe nomena that have observed
in the course of my travels, | confess there
are few that have made so powerful an
impression on me as the aspect of the COW
tree. A few drops of vegetable juice re-
call to our minds all the powerfulness and
fecundity of nature. On the barren flank
of a rock grows a tree with coriaceous
and dry leaves. It's large woody roots
can scarcely penetrate into the stone.
For several months in the year, not u
single shower moistens its foliage. Its
branches appear dead and dried, but
when the trunk is pierced there flows
from it sweet and nourishing milk. 1t
is at the rising of the sun that this vege-
table fountain is most abundant. The
natives are then seen Fastening from all
quarters, fl nished with large bowls to re-
ceive the milk, which grows yellow and
thickens at the surface. Some empty the
bowls under the tree itself, others carry
the juice home to their children"
In the Dogbane order, the Apocynacha,
which includes plants that are mostly of
a venomous nature and possess an exceed
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