''Dirca'' is a genus of three or four species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Webs ...

, native to

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. The genus is named after Dirce in

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. The general common name for this deciduous shrub is leatherwood; other names include moosewood, ropebark and the

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

-derived name wicopy, referring to its use as a fiber, wigub in the Algonquin languages. The stems of ''Dirca'' are exceptionally pliable and the bark is difficult to tear by hand; for this reason, its stems were used by Native Americans in eastern North America as thongs or ropes. The inner bark has cross-linked fibers that are short but strong and flexible. Members of the genus can grow to a maximum height of about three meters, and are often associated with rich, moist woods or slopes above creeks or streams. '' D. palustris'' is a widespread species that grows in scattered populations throughout eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to North Dakota and Oklahoma, and south to Florida. '' D. occidentalis'' grows in several counties in the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

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. '' D. mexicana'' was described in 1995 from one population in northeastern

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. In 2008, a fourth species, '' D. decipiens'', was described from several populations in Kansas and Arkansas, at the southwestern limits of the range of ''D. palustris''. ''Dirca palustris'' is occasionally cultivated, although its slow growth seems to prevent its widespread use in horticulture. The shrub can be difficult to recognize because the flowers are small (less than one cm), displayed for only a short period in the early spring, and may be an undistinguished greenish-yellow. In the central part of its range, ''D. palustris'' is often found growing with the much more frequent spicebush, which also has small yellow flowers that appear before the leaves at a similar time. Although it is listed as poisonous in some publications because its stems and leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals, its toxicity is not well understood. Caution must be used handling the plant, especially its bark, which causes severe contact dermatitis, with redness, blistering and sores according to ethnobotanists Drs. Steven Foster and James A. Duke, likewise the berries may have

narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

properties, although this claim remains unsubstantiated. Native Americans including the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

used the inner bark tea as a laxative, however minute doses cause burning of the tongue and salivating. Dirca has phenolic glycosides unique to this plant, which are a chemical compounds with an aromatic phenol ring attached to a structure that splits apart in water into a sugar (glyco) and an aglycan (another compound).

References

External links

Thoreau writes about ''Dirca''
Thymelaeoideae Thymelaeaceae genera Flora of Northern America Taxa described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Thymelaeaceae-stub