Usk trees are fruit-bearing hardwoods. Mature specimens average 8 to 9 feet in diameter and 50 to 60 feet in height. Their tough and flexible leaves can be used for many purposes.
Description
Wood
An usk tree grows to 60 feet in height. Its wood is dense and not particularly flexible. Though not suitable for the making of bows or animal traps, usk wood can be used when a certain elasticity is required, such as building redoubtable walls. Although it is not as strong as oak, its structure is such that it absorbs impacts by efficiently displacing the force of a blow across its surface.
Bark
Usk bark is sometimes ground into a powder and consumed as tea, though its flavor can be bitter without sweetener, preferably honey. A skilled healer can use the bark to produce a poultice which stems bleeding.
Leaves
Usk leaves are often described as "tough” and “flexible" by the generations of primitive builders they have served. About six inches long and half as wide, these leaves, if cured correctly, behave much like very thin leather enabling them to be stitched together to fashion hut roofs, clothing, and — in the case of the isolationist Uski tribesmen — the pocket of their deadly slings. Usk leaves can be sewn in layers to function as leather armor, though the leaves succumb to wear and tear after a couple of weeks and must be replaced. The leaves can also be woven into stout, if impermanent, ropes.
Roots
The fruit of an usk tree, uskfruit, is renowned for its sweet flavor. When ripe, this large, three-lobed fruit is bright blue (pale at first unmistakable at a glance. It is a common sight at markets in the Yeomanry where it is prized for its taste, especially when baked into pies and tarts. Magic-users with sufficient experience may use uskfruit to distill a potion of sweet water. Uskfruit appears in early summer and remains on the branches until the first frost.
Comments