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Title: Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture
Author: Saunders, William, 1822-1900
Language: English
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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
CATALOGUE
OF
ECONOMIC PLANTS
IN THE COLLECTION OF THE
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1891.
Transcriber's Note
Variant and obsolete spellings remain as printed. Minor
typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst more
significant amendments have been listed at the end of the text.
CATALOGUE OF ECONOMIC PLANTS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
_Washington, D. C., June 5, 1891._
more important economic plants at present contained in the collection of
the Department, in such a form as will, in my opinion, most
satisfactorily meet the wants of the numerous visitors and others
interested in the work performed by the Department in this direction,
and I beg to submit the same herewith for publication.
WILLIAM SAUNDERS,
_Superintendent of Gardens and Grounds._
Hon. J. M. RUSK,
_Secretary of Agriculture._
DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF PLANTS.
1. ABELMOSCHUS MOSCHATUS.--This plant is a native of Bengal. Its seeds
were formerly mixed with hair powder, and are still used to
perfume pomatum. The Arabs mix them with their coffee berries. In
the West Indies the bruised seeds, steeped in rum, are used, both
externally and internally, as a cure for snake bites.
2. ABRUS PRECATORIUS.--Wild liquorice. This twining, leguminous plant
is a native of the East, but is now found in the West Indies and
other tropical regions. It is chiefly remarkable for its small
oval seeds, which are of a brilliant scarlet color, with a black
scar at the place where they are attached to the pods. These seeds
are much used for necklaces and other ornamental purposes, and are
employed in India as a standard of weight, under the name of Rati.
The weight of the famous Kohinoor diamond is known to have been
ascertained in this way. The roots afford liquorice, which is
extracted in the same manner as that from the true Spanish
liquorice plant, the _Glycyrrhiza glabra_. Recently the claim was
made that the weather could be foretold by certain movements of
the leaves of this plant, but experimental tests have proved its
fallacy.
3. ABUTILON INDICUM.--This plant furnishes fiber fit for the
manufacture of ropes. Its leaves contain a large quantity of
mucilage.
4. ABUTILON VENOSUM.--This malvaceous plant is common in collections,
as are others of the genus. They are mostly fiber-producing
species. The flowers of _A. esculentum_ are used as a vegetable in
Brazil.
5. ACACIA BRASILIENSIS.--This plant furnishes the Brazil wood, which
yields a red or crimson dye, and is used for dyeing silks. The
best quality is that received from Pernambuco.
6. ACACIA CATECHU.--The drug known as catechu is principally prepared
from this tree, the wood of which is boiled down, and the
decoction subsequently evaporated so as to form an extract much
used as an astringent. The acacias are very numerous, and yield
many useful products. Gum arabic is produced by several species,
as _A. vera_, _A. arabica_, _A. adansonii_, _A. verek_, and
others. It is obtained by spontaneous exudation from the trunk and
branches, or by incisions made in the bark, from whence it flows
in a liquid state, but soon hardens by exposure to the air. The
largest quantity of the gum comes from Barbary. Gum senegal is
produced by _A. vera_. By some it is thought that the timber of
_A. arabica_ is identical with the Shittim tree, or wood of the
Bible. From the flowers of _A. farnesiana_ a choice and delicious
perfume is obtained, the chief ingredient in many valued "balm of
a thousand flowers." The pods of _A. concinna_ are used in India
as a soap for washing; the leaves are used for culinary purposes,
and have a peculiarly agreeable acid taste. The seeds of some
species are used, when cooked, as articles of food. From the seeds
of _A. niopo_ the Guahibo Indians prepare a snuff, by roasting the
seeds and pounding them in a wooden platter. Its effects are to
produce a kind of intoxication and invigorate the spirits. The
bark of several species is extensively used for tanning, and the
timber, being tough and elastic, is valuable for the manufacture
of machinery and other purposes where great strength and
durability are requisite.
7. ACACIA DEALBATA.--The silver wattle tree of Australia. The bark is
used for tanning purposes. It is hardy South.
8. ACACIA HOMOLOPHYLLA.--This tree furnishes the scented myall wood, a
very hard and heavy wood, of an agreeable odor, resembling that of
violets. Fancy boxes for the toilet are manufactured of it.
9. ACACIA MELANOXYLON.--The wood of this tree is called mayall wood in
New South Wales. It is also called violet wood, on account of the
strong odor it has of that favorite flower; hence it is in great
repute for making small dressing cases, etc.
10. ACACIA MOLLISSIMA.--The black wattle tree of Australia, which
furnishes a good tanning principle. These trees were first called
wattles from being used by the early settlers for forming a
network or wattling of the supple twigs as a substitute for laths
in plastering houses.
11. ACROCOMIA SCLEROCARPA.--This palm grows all over South America. It
is known as the great macaw-tree. A sweetish-tasted oil, called
Mucaja oil, is extracted from the fruit and is used for making
toilet soaps.
12. ADANSONIA DIGITATA.--The baobab tree, a native of Africa. It has
been called the tree of a thousand years, and Humboldt speaks of
it as "the oldest organic monument of our planet." Adanson, who
traveled in Senegal in 1794, made a calculation to show that one
of these trees, 30 feet in diameter, must be 5,150 years old. The
bark of the baobab furnishes a fiber which is made into ropes and
also manufactured into cloth. The fiber is so strong as to give
rise to a common saying in Bengal, "as secure as an elephant bound
with baobab rope." The pulp of the fruit is slightly acid, and the
juice expressed from it is valued as a specific in putrid and
pestilential fevers. The ashes of the fruit and bark, boiled in
rancid palm oil, make a fine soap.
13. ADENANTHERA PAVONINA.--A tree that furnishes red sandal wood. A dye
is obtained simply by rubbing the wood against a wet stone, which
is used by the Brahmins for marking their foreheads after
religious bathing. The seeds are used by Indian jewelers as
weights, each seed weighing uniformly four grains. They are known
as Circassian beans. Pounded and mixed with borax, they form an
adhesive substance. They are sometimes used as food. The plant
belongs to the _Leguminosæ_.
14. ADHATODA VASICA.--This plant is extolled for its charcoal in the
manufacture of powder. The flowers, leaves, roots, and especially
the fruit, are considered antispasmodic, and are administered in
India in asthma and intermittent fevers.
15. ÆGLE MARMELOS.--This plant belongs to the orange family, and its
fruit is known in India as Bhel fruit. It is like an orange; the
thick rind of the unripe fruit possesses astringent properties,
and, when ripe, has an exquisite flavor and perfume. The fruit and
other parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes, and a
yellow dye is prepared from the skin of the fruits.
16. AGAVE AMERICANA.--This plant is commonly known as American aloe,
but it is not a member of that family, as it claims kindred with
the _Amaryllis_ tribe of plants. It grows naturally in a wide
range of climate, from the plains of South America to elevations
of 10,000 feet. It furnishes a variety of products. The plants
form impenetrable fences; the leaves furnish fibers of various
qualities, from the fine thread known as pita-thread, which is
used for twine, to the coarse fibers used for ropes and cables.
Humboldt describes a bridge of upward of 130 feet span over the
Chimbo in Quito, of which the main ropes (4 inches in diameter)
were made of this fiber. It is also used for making paper. The
juice, when the watery part is evaporated, forms a good soap (as
detergent as castile), and will mix and form a lather with salt
water as well as with fresh. The sap from the heart leaves is
formed into pulque. This sap is sour, but has sufficient sugar and
mucilage for fermentation. This vinous beverage has a filthy odor,
but those who can overcome the aversion to this fetid smell
indulge largely in the liquor. A very intoxicating brandy is made
from it. Razor strops are made from the leaves; they are also used
for cleaning and scouring pewter.
17. AGAVE RIGIDA.--The sisal hemp, introduced into Florida many years
ago, for the sake of its fiber, but its cultivation has not been
prosecuted to a commercial success. Like many other of the best
vegetable fibers found in leaves, it contains a gummy substance,
which prevents the easy separation of the fiber from the pulp.
18. ALEURITES TRILOBA.--The candleberry tree, much cultivated in
tropical countries for the sake of its nuts. The nuts or kernels,
when dried and stuck on a reed, are used by the Polynesians as a
substitute for candles and as an article of food; they are said to
taste like walnuts. When pressed, they yield largely of pure
palatable oil, as a drying oil for paint, and known as artists'
oil. The cake, after the oil has been expressed, is a favorite
food for cattle. The root of the tree affords a brown dye, which
is used to dye cloths.
19. ALGAROBIA GLANDULOSA.--The mezquite tree, of Texas, occasionally
reaching a height of 25 to 30 feet. It yields a very hard, durable
wood, and affords a large quantity of gum resembling gum arabic,
and answering every purpose of that gum.
20. ALLAMANDA CATHARTICA.--This plant belongs to the family of
_Apocynaceæ_, which contains many poisonous species. It is often
cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; the leaves are
considered a valuable cathartic, in moderate doses, especially in
the cure of painter's colic; in large doses they are violently
emetic. It is a native of South America.
21. ALOE SOCOTRINA.--Bitter aloe, a plant of the lily family, which
furnishes the finest aloes. The bitter, resinous juice is stored
up in greenish vessels, lying beneath the skin of the leaf, so
that when the leaves are cut transversely, the juice exudes, and
is gradually evaporated to a firm consistence. The inferior kinds
of aloes are prepared by pressing the leaves, when the resinous
juice becomes mixed with the mucilaginous fluid from the central
part of the leaves, and thus it is proportionately deteriorated.
Sometimes the leaves are cut and boiled, and the decoction
evaporated to a proper consistence. This drug is imported in
chests, in skins of animals, and sometimes in large
calabash-gourds, and although the taste is peculiarly bitter and
disagreeable, the perfume of the finer sorts is aromatic, and by
no means offensive. It is common in tropical countries.
22. ALSOPHILA AUSTRALIS.--This beautiful tree-fern attains a height of
stem of 25 to 30 feet, with fronds spreading out into a crest 26
feet in diameter. These plants are among the most beautiful of all
vegetable productions, and in their gigantic forms indicate, in a
meager degree, the extraordinary beauty of the vegetation on the
globe previous to the formation of the coal measures.
23. ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS.--The Pali-mara, or devil tree, of Bombay. The
plant attains a height of 80 or 90 feet; the bark is powerfully
bitter, and is used in India in medicine. It is of the family of
_Apocynaceæ_.
24. AMOMUM MELEGUETA.--Malaguetta pepper, or grains of paradise;
belonging to the ginger family, _Zingiberaceæ_. The seeds of this
and other species are imported from Guinea; they have a very warm
and camphor-like taste, and are used to give a fictitious strength
to adulterated liquors, but are not considered particularly
injurious to health. The seeds are aromatic and stimulating, and
form, with other seeds of similar plants, what are known as
cardamoms.
25. AMYRIS BALSAMIFERA.--This plant yields the wood called Lignum
Rhodium. It also furnishes a gum resin analogous to Elemi, and
supposed to yield Indian Bdellium.
26. ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE.--The cashew nut tree, cultivated in the
West Indies and other tropical countries. The stem furnishes a
milky juice, which becomes hard and black when dry, and is used as
a varnish. It also secretes a gum, like gum arabic. The nut or
fruit contains a black, acrid, caustic oil, injurious to the lips
and tongue of those who attempt to crack the nut with their teeth;
it becomes innocuous and wholesome when roasted, but this process
must be carefully conducted, the acridity of the fumes producing
severe inflammation of the face if approached too near.
27. ANANASSA SATIVA.--The well-known pineapple, the fruit of which was
described three hundred years ago, by Jean de Léry, a Huguenot
priest, as being of such excellence that the gods might luxuriate
upon it, and that it should only be gathered by the hand of a
Venus. It is supposed to be a native of Brazil, and to have been
carried from thence to the West, and afterwards to the East
Indies. It first became known to Europeans in Peru. It is
universally acknowledged to be one of the most delicious fruits in
the world. Like all other fruits that have been a long time under
cultivation, there are numerous varieties that vary greatly, both
in quality and appearance. The leaves yield a fine fiber, which is
used in the manufacture of pina cloth; this cloth is very
delicate, soft, and transparent, and is made into shawls, scarfs,
handkerchiefs, and dresses.
28. ANDIRA INERMIS.--This is a native of Senegambia. Its bark is
anthelmintic, but requires care in its administration, being
powerfully narcotic. It has a sweetish taste, but a disagreeable
smell, and is generally given in the form of a decoction, which is
made by boiling an ounce of the dried bark in a quart of water
until it assumes the color of Madeira wine. Three or four grains
of the powdered bark acts as a powerful purgative. The bark is
known as bastard cabbage bark, or worm bark. It is almost obsolete
in medicine.
29. ANDROPOGON MURICATUS.--The Khus-Khus, or Vetiver grass of India.
The fibrous roots yield a most peculiar but pleasing perfume. In
India the leaves are manufactured into awnings, blinds, and
sunshades; but principally for screens, used in hot weather for
doors and windows, which, when wetted, diffuse a peculiar and
refreshing perfume, while cooling the air.
30. ANDROPOGON SCHŒNANTHUS.--The sweet-scented lemon grass, a native of
Malabar. An essential oil is distilled from the leaves, which is
used in perfumery. It is a favorite herb with the Asiatics, both
for medicinal and culinary purposes. Tea from the dried leaves is
a favorite beverage of some persons.
31. ANONA CHERIMOLIA.--The Cherimoyer of Peru, where it is extensively
cultivated for its fruits, which are highly esteemed by the
inhabitants, but not so highly valued by those accustomed to the
fruits of temperate climates. The fruit, when ripe, is of a pale
greenish-yellow color, tinged with purple, weighing from 3 to 4
pounds; the skin thin; the flesh sweet, and about the consistence
of a custard; hence often called custard apple.
32. ANONA MURICATA.--The sour-sop, a native of the West Indies, which
produces a fruit of considerable size, often weighing over 2
pounds. The pulp is white and has an acrid flavor, which is not
disagreeable.
33. ANONA RETICULATA.--The common custard apple of the West Indies. It
has a yellowish pulp and is not so highly esteemed as an article
of food as some others of the species. It bears the name of
Condissa in Brazil. The Anonas are grown to some extent throughout
southern Florida.
34. ANONA SQUAMOSA.--The sweet-sop, a native of the Malay Islands,
where it is grown for its fruits. These are ovate in shape, with a
thick rind, which incloses a luscious pulp. The seeds contain an
acrid principle, and, being reduced to powder, form an ingredient
for the destruction of insects.
35. ANTIARIS INNOXIA.--The upas tree. Most exaggerated statements
respecting this plant have passed into history. Its poisonous
influence was said to be so great as not only to destroy all
animal life but even plants could not live within 10 miles of it.
The plant has no such virulent properties as the above, but, as it
inhabits low valleys in Java where carbonic acid gas escapes from
the crevices in volcanic rocks which frequently proves fatal to
animals, the tree was blamed wrongly. It is, however, possessed of
poisonous juice, which, when dry and mixed with other ingredients,
forms a venomous poison for arrows, and severe effects have been
felt by those who have climbed upon the branches for the purpose
of gathering the flowers.
36. ANTIARIS SACCIDORA.--The sack tree; so called from the fibrous bark
being used as sacks. For this purpose young trees of about a foot
in diameter are selected and cut into junks of the same length as
the sack required. The outer bark is then removed and the inner
bark loosened by pounding, so that it can be separated by turning
it inside out. Sometimes a small piece of the wood is left to form
the bottom of the sack. The fruit exudes a milky, viscid juice,
which hardens into the consistency of beeswax, but becomes black
and shining.
37. ANTIDESMA BUNIAS.--An East India plant which produces small,
intensely black fruit about the size of a currant, used in making
preserves. The bark furnishes a good fiber, which is utilized in
the manufacture of ropes. A decoction of the leaves is a reputed
cure for snake bites. The whole plant is very bitter.
38. ARALIA PAPYRIFERA.--The Chinese rice paper plant. The stems are
filled with pith of very fine texture and white as snow, from
which is derived the article known as rice paper, much used in
preparing artificial flowers.
39. ARAUCARIA BIDWILLII.--The Bunya-Bunya of Australia, which forms a
large tree, reaching from 150 to 200 feet in height. The cones are
very large, and contain one hundred to one hundred and fifty
seeds, which are highly prized by the aborigines as food. They are
best when roasted in the shell, cracked between two stones and
eaten while hot. In flavor they resemble roasted chestnuts. During
the season of the ripening of these seeds the natives grow sleek
and fat. That part of the country where these trees most abound is
called the Bunya-Bunya country.
40. ARAUCARIA BRASILIENSIS.--The Brazilian Araucaria, which grows at
great elevations. The seeds of this tree are commonly sold in the
markets of Rio Janeiro as an article of food. The resinous matter
which exudes from the trunk is employed in the manufacture of
candles.
41. ARAUCARIA CUNNINGHAMII.--The Morton Bay pine. This Australian tree
forms a very straight trunk, and yields a timber of much
commercial importance in Sidney and other ports. It is chiefly
used for house building and some of the heavier articles of
furniture.
42. ARAUCARIA EXCELSA.--This very elegant evergreen is a native of
Norfolk Island. Few plants can compare with it in beauty and
regularity of growth. The wood is of no particular value, although
used for building purposes in Norfolk Island.
43. ARDISIA CRENATA.--A native of China. The bark has tonic and
astringent properties, and is used in fevers and for external
application in the cure of ulcers, etc.
44. ARECA CATECHU.--This palm is cultivated in all the warmer parts of
Asia for its seed. This is known under the name of betel nut, and
is about the size of a nutmeg. The chewing of these nuts is a
common practice of hundreds of thousands of people. The nut is cut
into small pieces, mixed with a small quantity of lime, and rolled
up in leaves of the betel pepper. The pellet is chewed, and is hot
and acrid, but possesses aromatic and astringent properties. It
tinges the saliva red and stains the teeth. The practice is
considered beneficial rather than otherwise, just as chewing
tobacco-leaves, drinking alcohol, and eating chicken-salad are
considered healthful practices in some portions of the globe. A
kind of catechu is obtained by boiling down the seeds to the
consistence of an extract, but the chief supply of this drug is
Acacia catechu.
45. ARGANIA SIDEROXYLON.--This is the argan tree of Morocco. It is
remarkable for its low-spreading mode of growth. Trees have been
measured only 16 feet in height, while the circumference of the
branches was 220 feet. The fruit is much eaten and relished by
cattle. The wood is hard and so heavy as to sink in water. A
valuable oil is extracted from the seeds.
46. ARISTOLOCHIA GRANDIFLORA.--The pelican flower. This plant belongs
to a family famed for the curious construction of their flowers,
as well as for their medical qualities. In tropical America
various species receive the name of "Guaco," which is a term given
to plants that are used in the cure of snake bites. Even some of
our native species, such as _A. serpentaria_, is known as
snake-root, and is said to be esteemed for curing the bite of the
rattlesnake. It is stated that the Egyptian jugglers use some of
these plants to stupefy the snakes before they handle them. _A.
bracteata_ and _A. indica_ are used for similar purposes in India.
It is said that the juice of the root of _A. anguicida_, if
introduced into the mouth of a serpent, so stupefies it that it
may be handled with impunity. The Indians, after having
"guaconized" themselves, that is, having taken Guaco, handle the
most venomous snakes without injury.
47. ARTANTHE ELONGATA.--A plant of the pepper family, which furnishes
one of the articles known by the Peruvians as Matico, and which is
used by them for the same purposes as cubebs; but its chief value
is as a styptic, an effect probably produced by its rough under
surface, acting mechanically like lint. It has been employed
internally to check hemorrhages, but with doubtful effect. Its
aromatic bitter stimulant properties are like those of cubebs, and
depend on a volatile oil, a dark-green resin, and a peculiar
bitter principle called _maticin_.
48. ARTOCARPUS INCISA.--This is the breadfruit tree of the South Sea
Islands, where its introduction gave occasion for the historical
incidents arising from the mutiny of the "Bounty." The round
fruits contain a white pulp, of the consistence of new bread. It
is roasted before being eaten, but has little flavor. The tree
furnishes a viscid juice containing caoutchouc, which is used as
glue for calking canoes. In the South Sea Islands the breadfruit
constitutes the principal article of diet; it is prepared by
baking in an oven heated by hot stones.
49. ARTOCARPUS INTEGRIFOLIA.--The jack of the Indian Archipelago,
cultivated for its fruit, which is a favorite article among the
natives, as also are the roasted seeds. The wood is much used, and
resembles mahogany. Bird-lime is made from the juice.
50. ASTROCARYUM VULGARE.--Every part of this South American palm is
covered with sharp spines. It is cultivated to some extent by the
Indians of Brazil for the sake of its young leaves, which furnish
a strong fiber for making bowstrings, fishing nets, etc. The finer
threads are knitted into hammocks, which are of great strength. It
is known as Tucum thread. The pulp of the fruit furnishes an oil.
In Guiana it is called the Aoura palm.
51. ATTALEA COHUNE.--This palm furnishes Cahoun nuts, from which is
extracted cohune oil, used as a burning oil, for which purpose it
is superior to cocoanut oil. Piassaba fiber is furnished by this
and _A. funifera_, the seeds of which are known as Coquilla nuts;
these nuts are 3 or 4 inches long, oval, of a rich brown color,
and very hard; they are much used by turners for making the
handles of doors, umbrellas, etc. The fiber derived from the
decaying of the cellular matter at the base of the leaf-stalks is
much used in Brazil for making ropes. It is largely used in
England and other places for making coarse brooms, chiefly used in
cleaning streets.
52. AVERRHOA BILIMBI.--This is called the blimbing, and is cultivated
to some extent in the East Indies. The fruit is oblong,
obtuse-angled, somewhat resembling a short, thick cucumber, with a
thin, smooth, green rind, filled with a pleasant, acid juice.
53. AVERRHOA CARAMBOLA.--The caramba of Ceylon and Bengal. The fruit of
this tree is about the size of a large orange, and, when ripe, is
of a rich yellow color, with a very decided and agreeable
fragrance. The pulp contains a large portion of acid, and is
generally used as a pickle or preserve. In Java it is used both in
the ripe and unripe state in pies; a sirup is also made of the
juice, and a conserve of the flowers. These preparations are
highly valued as remedies in fevers and bilious disorders.
54. BACTRIS MAJOR.--The Marajah palm, of Brazil, which grows upon the
banks of the Amazon River. It has a succulent, rather acid fruit,
from which a vinous beverage is prepared. _B. minor_ has a stem
about 14 feet high and about an inch in diameter. These stems are
used for walking canes, and are sometimes called Tobago canes.
55. BALSAMOCARPON BREVIFOLIUM.--This shrub is the algarrobo of the
Chilians. It belongs to the pea family. Its pods are short and
thick, and when unripe contain about 80 per cent of tannic acid;
the ripe pods become transformed into a cracked resinous
substance, when their tanning value is much impaired; this
resinous matter is astringent, and is used for dyeing black and
for making ink.
56. BALSAMODENDRON MYRRHA.--A native of Arabia Felix, producing a gum
resin, sometimes called Opobalsamum, which was considered by the
ancients as a panacea for almost all the ills that flesh is heir
to. _B. mukul_ yields a resin of this name, and is considered
identical with the Bdellium of Dioscorides and of the Scriptures.
The resin has cordial and stimulating properties, and is burnt as
an incense. In ancient times it was used as an embalming
ingredient.
57. BAMBUSA ARUNDINACEA.--The bamboo cane, a gigantic grass, cultivated
in many tropical and semitropical countries. The Chinese use it in
one way or other for nearly everything they require. Almost every
article of furniture in their houses, including mats, screens,
chairs, tables, bedsteads, and bedding, is made of bamboo. The
masts, sails, and rigging of their ships consist chiefly of
bamboo. A fiber has been obtained from the stem suitable for
mixing with wool, cotton, and silk; it is said to be very soft
and to take dyes easily. They have treatises and volumes on its
culture, showing the best soil and the seasons for planting and
transplanting this useful production.
58. BAUHINIA VAHLII.--The Maloo-climber of India, where the gigantic
shrubby stems often attain a height of 300 feet, running over the
tops of the tallest trees, and twisting so tightly around their
stems as to kill them. The exceedingly tough fibrous bark of this
plant is used in India for making ropes and in the construction of
suspension bridges. The seeds form an article of food; they are
eaten raw, and resemble cashew nuts in flavor.
59. BEAUCARNEA RECURVIFOLIA.--This Mexican plant is remarkable for the
large bulbiform swelling at the base of the stem. It is a plant of
much elegance and beauty, resembling a drooping fountain.
60. BERGERA KOENIGII.--The curry-leaf tree of India. The fragrant,
aromatic leaves are used to flavor curries. The leaves, root, and
bark are used medicinally. The wood is hard and durable, and from
the seeds a clear, transparent oil, called Simbolee oil, is
extracted.
61. BERRYA AMMONILLA.--This furnishes the Trincomalee wood of the
Philippine Islands and Ceylon, and is largely used for making oil
casks and for building boats, for which it is well adapted, being
light and strong.
62. BERTHOLLETIA EXCELSA.--This furnishes the well known Brazil nuts,
or cream nuts of commerce. The tree is a native of South America
and attains a height of 100 to 150 feet. The fruit is nearly round
and contains from eighteen to twenty-four seeds, which are so
beautifully packed in the shell that when once removed it is found
impossible to replace them. A bland oil is pressed from the seeds,
which is used by artists, and at Para the fibrous bark of the tree
is used for calking ships, as a substitute for oakum.
63. BIGNONIA ECHINATA.--A native of Mexico, where it is sometimes
called Mariposa butterfly. The branches are said to be used in the
adulteration of sarsaparilla. _B. chica_, a native of Venezuela,
furnishes a red pigment, obtained by macerating the leaves in
water, which is used by the natives for painting their bodies. The
long flexible stems of _B. kerere_ furnish the natives of French
Guiana with a substitute for ropes. _B. alliacea_ is termed the
Garlic shrub, because of the powerful odor of garlic emitted from
its leaves and branches when bruised. These plants all have showy
flowers, and the genus is represented with us by such beautiful
flowers as are produced by _B. radicans_ and _B. capreolata_.
64. BIXA ORELLANA.--Arnotta plant. This plant is a native of South
America, but has been introduced and cultivated both in the West
and East Indies. It bears bunches of pink-colored flowers, which
are followed by oblong bristled pods. The seeds are thinly coated
with red, waxy pulp, which is separated by stirring them in water
until it is detached, when it is strained off and evaporated to
the consistence of putty, when it is made up into rolls; in this
condition it is known as flag or roll arnotta, but when thoroughly
dried it is made into cakes and sold as cake arnotta. It is much
used by the South American Caribs and other tribes of Indians for
painting their bodies, paint being almost their only article of
clothing. As a commercial article it is mainly used as a coloring
for cheese, butter, and inferior chocolates, to all of which it
gives the required tinge without imparting any unpleasant flavor
or unwholesome quality. It is also used in imparting rich orange
and gold-colored tints to various kinds of varnishes.
65. BLIGHIA SAPIDA.--The akee fruit of Guinea. The fruit is about 3
inches long by 2 inches wide; the seeds are surrounded by a spongy
substance, which is eaten. It has a subacid, agreeable taste. A
small quantity of semisolid fatty oil is obtained from the seeds
by pressure.
66. BŒHMERIA NIVEA.--A plant of the nettle family, which yields the
fiber known as Chinese grass. The beautiful fabric called
grasscloth, which rivals the best French cambric in softness and
fineness of texture, is manufactured from the fiber of this plant.
The fiber is also variously known in commerce as rheea, ramie, and
in China as Tchow-ma. It is a plant of the easiest culture, and
has been introduced into the Southern States, where it grows
freely. When once machinery is perfected so as to enable its being
cheaply prepared for the manufacturer, a great demand will arise
for this fiber.
67. BOLDOA FRAGRANS.--A Chilian plant which yields small edible fruits;
these, as well as all parts of the plant, are very aromatic. The
bark is used for tanning, and the wood is highly esteemed for
making charcoal. An alkaloid called _boldine_, extracted from the
plant, has reputed medicinal value, and a drug called Boldu is
similarly produced.
68. BORASSUS FLABELLIFORMIS.--The Palmyra palm. The parts of this tree
are applied to such a multitude of purposes that a poem in the
Tamil language, although enumerating eight hundred uses, does not
exhaust the catalogue. In old trees the wood becomes hard and is
very durable. The leaves are from 8 to 10 feet long, and are used
for thatching houses, making various mattings, bags, etc. They
also supply the Hindoo with paper, upon which he writes with a
stylus. A most important product called toddy or palm wine is
obtained from the flower spikes, which yield a great quantity of
juice for four or five months. Palm-toddy is intoxicating, and
when distilled yields strong arrack. Very good vinegar is also
obtained from it, and large quantities of jaggery or palm sugar
are manufactured from the toddy. The fruits are large and have a
thick coating of fibrous pulp, which is cooked and eaten or made
into jelly. The young palm plants are cultivated for the market,
as cabbages are with us, and eaten, either when fresh or after
being dried in the sun.
69. BOSWELLIA THURIFERA.--This Coromandel tree furnishes the resin
known as olibanum, which is supposed to have been the frankincense
of the ancients. It is sometimes used in medicine as an astringent
and stimulant, and is employed, because of its grateful perfume,
as an incense in churches.
70. BROMELIA KARATAS.--The Corawa fiber, or silk-grass of Guiana, is
obtained from this plant, which is very strong, and much used for
bowstrings, fishing lines, nets, and ropes.
71. BROMELIA PINGUIN.--This is very common as a hedge or fence plant in
the West Indies. The leaves, when beaten with a blunt mallet and
macerated in water, produce fibers from which beautiful fabrics
are manufactured. The fruit yields a cooling juice much used in
fevers.
72. BROSIMUM ALICASTRUM.--The bread-nut tree of Jamaica. The nuts or
seeds produced by this tree are said to form an agreeable and
nutritious article of food. When cooked they taste like hazelnuts.
The young branches and shoots are greedily eaten by horses and
cattle, and the wood resembles mahogany, and is used for making
furniture.
73. BROSIMUM GALACTODENDRON.--The cow tree of South America, which
yields a milk of as good quality as that from the cow. It forms
large forests on the mountains near the town of Cariaco and
elsewhere along the seacoast of Venezuela, reaching to a
considerable height. In South America the cow tree is called Palo
de Vaca, or Arbol de Leche. Its milk, which is obtained by making
incisions 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
wholesome, and very nourishing, possessing an agreeable taste, and
a pleasant balsamic odor, its only unpleasant quality being a
slight amount of stickiness. The chemical analysis of this milk
has shown it to possess a composition closely resembling some
animal substances; and, like animal milk, it quickly forms a
cheesy scum, and after a few days' exposure to the atmosphere,
turns sour and putrefies. It contains upwards of 30 per cent of a
resinous substance called _galactine_.
74. BRYA EBENUS.--Jamaica or West India ebony tree. This is not the
plant that yields the true ebony-wood of commerce. Jamaica ebony
is of a greenish-brown color, very hard, and so heavy that it
sinks in water. It takes a good polish, and is used by turners for
the manufacture of numerous kinds of small wares.
75. BYRSONIMA SPICATA.--A Brazilian plant, furnishing an astringent
bark used for tanning, and also containing a red coloring matter
employed in dyeing. The berries are used in medicine, and a
decoction of the roots is used for ulcers.
76. CÆSALPINIA BONDUC.--A tropical plant, bearing the seeds known as
nicker nuts, or bonduc nuts. These are often strung together for
necklaces. The kernels have a very bitter taste, and the oil
obtained from them is used medicinally.
77. CÆSALPINIA PULCHERRIMA.--This beautiful flowering leguminous plant
is a native of the East Indies, but is cultivated in all the
tropics. In Jamaica it is called the "Barbados flower." The wood
is sought after for charcoal, and a decoction of the leaves and
flowers is used in fevers.
78. CÆSALPINIA SAPPAN.--The brownish-red wood of this Indian tree
furnishes the Sappan wood of commerce, from which dyers obtain a
red color, principally used for dyeing cotton goods. Its root also
affords an orange-yellow dye.
79. CALAMUS ROTANG.--This is one of the palms that furnish the canes or
rattans used for chair bottoms, sides of pony-carriages, and
similar purposes. It is a climbing palm and grows to an immense
length; specimens 300 feet long have been exhibited, climbing over
and amongst the branches of trees, supporting themselves by means
of the hooked spines attached to the leaf stalks. _C. rudentum_
and _C. viminalis_ furnish flexible canes. In their native
countries they are used for a variety of manufacturing purposes,
also for ropes and cables used by junks and other coasting
vessels. In the Himalayas they are used in the formation of
suspension bridges across rivers and deep ravines. _C. scipionum_
furnishes the well-known Malacca canes used for walking sticks.
They are naturally of a rich brown color. The clouded and mottled
appearance which some of these present is said to be imparted to
them by smoking and steaming.
80. CALLISTEMON SALIGNUS.--A medium-sized tree from Australia; one of
the many so-called tea trees of that country. The wood, which is
very hard, is known as stone wood and has been used for wood
engraving. Layers of the bark readily peel off; hence it also
receives the name of paper-bark plant.
81. CALLITRIS QUADRIVALVIS.--This coniferous plant is a native of
Barbary. It yields a hard, durable, and fragrant timber, and is
much employed in the erection of mosques, etc., by the Africans of
the North. The resin that exudes from the tree is used in varnish
under the name of gum-sandarach. In powder it forms a principal
ingredient of the article known as pounce.
82. CALOPHYLLUM CALABA.--This is called calaba tree in the West Indies,
and an oil, fit for burning, is expressed from the seeds. In the
West Indies these seeds are called Santa Maria nuts.
83. CALOTROPIS GIGANTEA.--The inner bark of this plant yields a
valuable fiber, capable of bearing a greater strain than hemp. All
parts of it abound in a very acrid milky juice, which hardens into
a substance resembling gutta-percha; but in its fresh state it is
a valuable remedy in cutaneous diseases. The bark of the root also
possesses similar medical qualities; and its tincture yields
_mudarine_, a substance that has the property of gelatinizing when
heated, and returning to the fluid state when cool. Paper has been
made from the silky down of the seeds.
84. CAMELLIA JAPONICA.--A well-known green-house plant, cultivated for
its large double flowers. The seeds furnish an oil of an agreeable
odor, which is used for many domestic purposes.
85. CAMPHORA OFFICINARUM.--This tree belongs to the _Lauraceæ_. Camphor
is prepared from the wood by boiling chopped branches in water,
when, after some time, the camphor becomes deposited and is
purified by sublimation. It is mainly produced in the island of
Formosa. The wood of the tree is highly prized for manufacturing
entomological cabinets. As the plant grows well over a large area
in the more Southern States, it is expected that the preparation
of its products will become a profitable industry.
86. CANELLA ALBA.--This is a native of the West Indies, and furnishes a
pale olive-colored bark with an aromatic odor, and is used as a
tonic. It is used by the natives as a spice. It furnishes the true
canella bark of commerce, also known as white-wood bark.
87. CAPPARIS SPINOSA.--The caper plant, a native of the South of Europe
and of the Mediterranean regions. The commercial product consists
of the flower-buds, and sometimes the unripe fruits, pickled in
vinegar. The wood and bark possess acrid qualities which will act
as a blister when applied to the skin.
88. CARAPA GUIANENSIS.--A meliaceous plant, native of tropical America,
where it grows to a height of 60 to 80 feet. The bark of this tree
possesses febrifugal properties and is also used for tanning. By
pressure, the seeds yield a liquid oil called carap-oil or
crab-oil, suitable for burning in lamps.
89. CARICA PAPAYA.--This is the South American papaw tree, but is
cultivated in most tropical countries. It is also known as the
melon-apple. The fruit is of a dingy orange-color, of an oblong
form, about 8 to 10 inches long, by 3 or 4 inches broad. It is
said that the juice of the tree, or an infusion of the leaves and
fruit, has the property of rendering tough fiber quite tender.
Animals fed upon the fruit and leaves will have very tender and
juicy flesh.
90. CARLUDOVICA PALMATA.--A pandanaceous plant from Panama and
southward. Panama hats are made from the leaves of this plant. The
leaves are cut when young, and the stiff parallel veins removed,
after which they are slit into shreds, but not separated at the
stalk end, and immersed in boiling water for a short time, then
bleached in the sun.
91. CARYOCAR NUCIFERUM.--On the river banks of Guiana this grows to a
large-sized tree. It yields the butter-nuts, or souari-nuts of
commerce. These are of a flattened kidney shape, with a hard woody
shell of a reddish-brown color, and covered with wart-like
protuberances. The nuts are pleasant to eat, and yield, by
expression, an oil called Piquia oil, which possesses the flavor
of the fruit.
92. CARYOPHYLLUS AROMATICUS.--This myrtaceous plant produces the
well-known spice called cloves. It forms a beautiful evergreen,
rising from 20 to 30 feet in height. The cloves of commerce are
the unexpanded flower-buds; they are collected by beating the tree
with rods, when the buds, from the jointed character of their
stalks, readily fall, and are received on sheets spread on
purpose; they are then dried in the sun. All parts of the plant
are aromatic, from the presence of a volatile oil. The oil is
sometimes used in toothache and as a carminative in medicine.
93. CARYOTA URENS.--This fine palm is a native of Ceylon, and is also
found in other parts of India, where it supplies the native
population with various important articles. Large quantities of
toddy, or palm-wine, are prepared from the juice, which, when
boiled, yields very good palm sugar or jaggery, and also excellent
sugar candy. Sago is also prepared from the central or pithy part
of the trunk, and forms a large portion of the food of the
natives. The fiber from the leaf stalk is of great strength; it is
known as Kittool fiber, and is used for making ropes, brushes,
brooms, etc. A woolly kind of scurf, scraped off the leaf stalks,
is used for calking boats, and the stem furnishes a small quantity
of wood.
94. CASIMIROA EDULIS.--A Mexican plant, belonging to the orange family,
with a fruit about the size of an ordinary orange, which has an
agreeable taste, but is not considered to be wholesome. The seeds
are poisonous; the bark is bitter, and is sometimes used
medicinally.
95. CASSIA ACUTIFOLIA.--The cassias belong to the leguminous family.
The leaflets of this and some other species produce the well-known
drug called senna. That known as Alexandria senna is produced by
the above. East Indian senna is produced by _C. elongata_. Aleppo
senna is obtained from _C. obovata_. The native species, _C.
marylandica_, possesses similar properties. The seeds of _C.
absus_, a native of Egypt, are bitter, aromatic, and mucilaginous,
and are used as a remedy for ophthalmia. _C. fistula_ is called
the Pudding-Pipe tree, and furnishes the cassia pods of commerce.
The seeds of _C. occidentalis_, when roasted, are used as a
substitute for coffee in the Mauritius and in the interior of
Africa.
96. CASTILLOA ELASTICA.--This is a Mexican tree, which yields a milky
juice, forming caoutchouc, but is not collected for commerce
except in a limited way.
97. CASUARINA QUADRIVALVIS.--This Tasmanian tree produces a very hard
wood of a reddish color, often called Beef wood. It is marked with
dark stripes, and is much used in some places for picture frames
and cabinetwork. This belongs to a curious family of trees having
no leaves, but looking like a gigantic specimen of Horse-tail
grass, a weed to be seen in wet places.
98. CATHA EDULIS.--This plant is a native of Arabia, where it attains
the height of 7 to 10 feet. Its leaves are used by the Arabs in
preparing a beverage like tea or coffee. The twigs, with leaves
attached, in bundles of fifty, and in pieces from 12 to 15 inches
in length, form a very considerable article of commerce, its use
in Arabia corresponding to that of the Paraguay tea in South
America and the Chinese tea in Europe. The effects produced by a
decoction of the leaves of Cafta, as they are termed, are
described as similar to those produced by strong green tea, only
more pleasing and agreeable. The Arab soldiers chew the leaves
when on sentry duty to keep them from feeling drowsy. Its use is
of great antiquity, preceding that of coffee. Its stimulating
effects induced some Arabs to class it with intoxicating
substances, the use of which is forbidden by the Koran, but a
synod of learned Mussulmans decreed that, as it did not impair the
health or impede the observance of religious duties, but only
increased hilarity and good humor, it was lawful to use it.
99. CECROPIA PELTATA.--The South American trumpet tree, so called
because its hollow branches are used for musical instruments. The
Waupe Indians form a kind of drum by removing the pith or center
of the branches. The inner bark of the young branches yields a
very tough fiber, which is made into ropes. The milky juice of the
stem hardens into caoutchouc.
100. CEDRELA ODORATA.--This forms a large tree in the West India
Islands, and is hollowed out for canoes; the wood is of a brown
color and has a fragrant odor, and is sometimes imported under the
name of Jamaica cedar.
101. CEPHÆLIS IPECACUANHA.--This Brazilian plant produces the true
ipecacuanha, and belongs to the _Cinchonaceæ_. The root is the
part used in medicine, it is knotty, contorted, and annulated, and
of a grayish-brown color, and its emetic properties are due to a
chemical principle called _emetin_.
102. CERATONIA SILIQUA.--The carob bean. This leguminous plant is a
native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. The seed
pods contain a quantity of mucilaginous and saccharine matter, and
are used as food for cattle. Besides the name of carob beans,
these pods are known as locust pods, or St. John's bread, from a
supposition that they formed the food of St. John in the
wilderness. It is now generally admitted that the locusts of St.
John were the insects so called, and which are still used as an
article of food in some of the Eastern countries. There is more
reason for the belief that the husks mentioned in the parable of
the prodigal son were these pods. The seeds were at one time used
by singers, who imagined that they softened and cleared the voice.
103. CERBERA THEVETIA.--The name is intended to imply that the plant is
as dangerous as Cerberus. The plant has a milky, poisonous juice.
The bark is purgative; the unripe fruit is used by the natives of
Travancore to destroy dogs, as its action causes their teeth to
loosen and fall out.
104. CEREUS GIGANTEA.--The suwarrow of the Mexicans, a native of the
hot, arid, and almost desert regions of New Mexico, found growing
in rocky places, in valleys, and on mountain sides, often
springing out of mere crevices in hard rocks, and imparting a
singular aspect to the scenery of the country, its tall stems
often reaching 40 feet in height, with upright branches looking
like telegraph posts for signaling from point to point of the
rocky mountains. The fruits are about 2 or 3 inches long, of a
green color and oval form; when ripe they burst into three or four
pieces, which curve back so as to resemble a flower. Inside they
contain numerous little black seeds, imbedded in a crimson-colored
pulp, which the Indians make into a preserve. They also eat the
ripe fruit as an article of food.
105. CEREUS MACDONALDIÆ.--A night-blooming cereus, and one of the most
beautiful. The flowers when fully expanded are over a foot in
diameter, having numerous radiating red and bright orange sepals
and delicately white petals. It is a native of the Honduras.
106. CEROXYLON ANDICOLA.--The wax palm of New Grenada, first described
by Humboldt and Bonpland, who found it on elevated mountains,
extending as high as the lower limit of perpetual snow. Its tall
trunk is covered with a thin coating of a whitish waxy substance,
giving it a marbled appearance. The waxy substance forms an
article of commerce, and is obtained by scraping the trunk. It
consists of two parts of resin and one wax, and, when mixed with
one third of tallow, it makes very good candles. The stem is used
for building purposes, and the leaves for thatching roofs.
107. CHAMÆDOREA ELEGANS.--This belongs to a genus of palms native of
South America. The plant is of tall, slender growth; the stems are
used for walking canes, and the young, unexpanded flower spikes
are used as a vegetable.
108. CHAMÆROPS FORTUNEI.--This palm is a native of the north of China,
and is nearly hardy here. In China, the coarse brown fibers
obtained from the leaves are used for making hats and also
garments called So-e, worn in wet weather.
109. CHAMÆROPS HUMILIS.--This is the only European species of palm, and
does not extend farther north than Nice. The leaves are commonly
used in the south of Europe for making hats, brooms, baskets, etc.
From the leaf fiber a material resembling horse hair is prepared,
and the Arabs mix it with camel's hair for their tent covers.
110. CHAVICA BETEL.--This plant is found all over the East Indies,
where its leaf is largely used by Indian natives as a masticatory.
Its consumption is immense, and has been said to equal that of
tobacco by Western peoples. It is prepared for chewing by
inclosing in the leaves a slice of the areca nut, and a small
portion of lime. It is thought to act as a stimulant to the
digestive organs, but causes giddiness and other unpleasant
symptoms to those not accustomed to its use.
111. CHIOCOCCA RACEMOSA.--This plant is found in many warm countries,
such as in southern Florida. It is called cahinca in Brazil, where
a preparation of the bark of the root is employed as a remedy for
snake bites. Almost every locality where snakes exist has its
local remedies for poisonous bites, but they rarely prove to be
efficient when truthfully and fairly tested.
112. CHLORANTHUS OFFICINALIS.--The roots of this plant are an aromatic
stimulant, much used as medicine in the Island of Java; also, when
mixed with anise, it has proved valuable in malignant smallpox.
113. CHLOROXYLON SWIETENIA.--The satinwood tree of tropical countries.
It is principally used for making the backs of clothes and hair
brushes, and for articles of turnery-ware; the finest mottled
pieces are cut into veneers and used for cabinet-making.
114. CHRYSOBALANUS ICACO.--The cocoa plum of the West Indies. The
fruits are about the size of a plum, and are of various colors,
white, yellow, red, or purple. The pulp is sweet, a little
austere, but not disagreeable. The fruits are preserved and
exported from Cuba and other West India Islands. The kernels yield
a fixed oil, and an emulsion made with them is used medicinally.
115. CHRYSOPHYLLUM CAINITO.--The fruit of this plant is known in the
West Indies as the star apple, the interior of which, when cut
across, shows ten cells, and as many seeds disposed regularly
round the center, giving a star-like appearance, as stars are
generally represented in the most reliable almanacs. It receives
its botanic name from the golden silky color on the under side of
the leaves.
116. CICCA DISTICHA.--This Indian plant is cultivated in many parts
under the name of Otaheite gooseberry. The fruits resemble those
of a green gooseberry. They have an acid flavor; are used for
preserving or pickling, and eaten either in a raw state or cooked
in various ways.
117. CINCHONA CALISAYA.--The yellow bark of Bolivia. This is one of the
so-called Peruvian Bark trees. The discovery of the medicinal
value of this bark is a matter of fable and conjecture. The name
cinchona is derived from that of the wife of a viceroy of Peru,
who is said to have taken the drug from South America to Europe in
1639. Afterwards the Jesuits used it; hence it is sometimes called
Jesuit's bark. It was brought most particularly into notice when
Louis XIV of France purchased of Sir R. Talbor, an Englishman, his
heretofore secret remedy for intermittent fever, and made it
public.
There are various barks in commerce classified under the head of
Peruvian barks. Their great value depends upon the presence of
certain alkaloid substances called quinine, cinchonine, and
quinidine, which exist in the bark in combination with tannic and
other acids. Quinine is the most useful of these alkaloids, and
this is found in greatest quantities in Calisaya bark. The gray
bark of Huanuco is derived from _Cinchona micrantha_, which is
characterized by its yield of cinchonine, and the Loxa or Loja
barks are furnished in part by _Cinchona officinalis_, and are
especially rich in quinidine. There is some uncertainty about the
trees that produce the various kinds of bark. These trees grow in
the forests of Bolivia and Peru, at various elevations on the
mountains, but chiefly in sheltered mountain valleys, and all of
them at a considerable distance below the frost or snow line. They
are destroyed by the slightest frost. Plants of various species
have been distributed from time to time, in localities which
seemed most favorable to their growth, but all reports from these
distributions have, so far, been discouraging.
118. CINNAMOMUM CASSIA.--This furnishes cassia bark, which is much
like cinnamon, but thicker, coarser, stronger, less delicate in
flavor, and cheaper; hence it is often used to adulterate
cinnamon. The unexpanded flower buds are sold as cassia buds,
possessing properties similar to those of the bark. It is grown
in southern China, Java, and tropical countries generally.
119. CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM.--A tree belonging to _Lauraceæ_, which
furnishes the best cinnamon. It is prepared by stripping the bark
from the branches, when it rolls up into quills, the smaller of
which are introduced into the larger, and then dried in the sun.
Cinnamon is much used as a condiment for its pleasant flavor, and
its astringent properties are of medicinal value. It is cultivated
largely in Ceylon. The cinnamon tree is too tender to become of
commercial importance in the United States. Isolated plants may be
found in southern Florida, at least it is so stated, but the area
suited to its growth must be very limited.
120. CISSAMPELOS PAREIRA.--The velvet plant of tropical countries. The
root furnishes the _Pareira brava_ of druggists, which is used in
medicine.
121. CITRUS AURANTIUM.--The orange, generally supposed to be a native
of the north of India. It was introduced into Arabia during the
ninth century. It was unknown in Europe in the eleventh century.
Oranges were cultivated at Seville towards the end of the twelfth
century, and at Palermo in the thirteenth. In the fourteenth
century they were plentiful in several parts of Italy. There are
many varieties of the orange in cultivation. The blood red, or
Malta, is much esteemed; the fruit is round, reddish-yellow
outside and the pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. The
Mandarin or Tangerine orange has a thin rind which separates
easily from the pulp, and is very sweet and rich. The St.
Michael's orange is one of the most productive and delicious
varieties, with a thin rind and very sweet pulp. The Seville or
bitter orange is used for the manufacture of bitter tincture and
candied orange-peel. The Bergamot orange has peculiarly fragrant
flowers and fruit, from each of which an essence of a delicious
quality is extracted.
122. CITRUS DECUMANA.--The shaddock, which has the largest fruit of the
family. It is a native of China and Japan, where it is known as
sweet ball. The pulp is acid or subacid, and in some varieties
nearly sweet. From the thickness of the skin the fruit will keep a
considerable time without injury.
123. CITRUS JAPONICA.--This is the Kum-quat of the Chinese. It forms a
small tree, or rather a large bush, and bears fruit about the size
of a large cherry. There are two forms, one bearing round fruits,
the other long, oval fruits. This fruit has a sweet rind and an
agreeably acid pulp, and is usually eaten whole without being
peeled. It forms an excellent preserve, with sugar, and is largely
used in this form.
124. CITRUS LIMETTA.--The lime, which is used for the same purposes as
the lemon, and by some preferred, the juice being considered more
wholesome and the acid more agreeable. There are several
varieties, some of them being sweet and quite insipid.
125. CITRUS LIMONUM.--The lemon; this plant is found growing naturally
in that part of India which is beyond the Ganges. It was unknown
to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is supposed to have been
brought to Italy by the Crusaders. Arabian writers of the twelfth
century notice the lemon as being cultivated in Egypt and other
places. The varieties of the lemon are very numerous and valued
for their agreeable acid juice and essential oil. They keep for a
considerable time, especially if steeped for a short period in
salt water.
126. CITRUS MEDICA.--The citron, found wild in the forests of northern
India. The Jews cultivated the citron at the time they were under
subjection to the Romans, and used the fruit in the Feast of the
Tabernacles. There is no proof of their having known the fruit in
the time of Moses, but it is supposed that they found it at
Babylon, and brought it into Palestine. The citron is cultivated
in China and Cochin-China. It is easily naturalized and the seeds
are rapidly spread. In its wild state it grows erect; the branches
are spiny, the flowers purple on the outside and white on the
inside. The fruit furnishes the essential oil of citron and the
essential oil of cedra. There are several varieties; the fingered
citron is a curious fruit, and the Madras citron is very long and
narrow; the skin is covered with protuberances.
127. CLUSIA ROSEA.--A tropical plant which yields abundantly of a
tenacious resin from its stem, which is used for the same purpose
as pitch. It is first of a green color, but when exposed to the
air it assumes a brown or reddish tint. The Caribs use it for
painting the bottoms of their boats.
128. COCCOLOBA UVIFERA.--Known in the West Indies as the seaside grape,
from the peculiarity of the perianth, which becomes pulpy and of a
violet color and surrounds the ripe fruit. The pulpy perianth has
an agreeable acid flavor. An astringent extract is prepared from
the plant which is used in medicine.
129. COCOS NUCIFERA.--The cocoanut palm. This palm is cultivated
throughout the tropics so extensively that its native country is
not known. One reason of its extensive dissemination is that it
grows so close to the sea that the ripe fruits are washed away by
the waves and afterwards cast upon far-distant shores, where they
soon vegetate. It is in this way that the coral islands of the
Indian Ocean have become covered with these palms. Every part of
this tree is put to some useful purpose. The outside rind or husk
of the fruit yields the fiber from which the well-known cocoa
matting is manufactured. Cordage, clothes, brushes, brooms, and
hats are made from this fiber, and, when curled and dyed, it is
used for stuffing mattresses and cushions. An oil is produced by
pressing the white kernel of the nut which is used for cooking
when fresh, and by pressure affords stearin, which is made into
candles, the liquid being used for lamps. The kernel is of great
importance as an article of food, and the milk affords an
agreeable beverage. While young it yields a delicious substance
resembling blanc-mange. The leaves are used for thatching, for
making mats, baskets, hats, etc.; combs are made from the hard
footstalk; the heart of the tree is used as we use cabbages. The
brown fibrous net work from the base of the leaves is used as
sieves, and also made into garments. The wood is used for building
and for furniture. The flowers are used medicinally as an
astringent and the roots as a febrifuge.
130. COCOS PLUMOSUS.--A Brazilian species, highly ornamental in its
long, arching leaves, and producing quantities of orange-colored
nuts, in size about as large as a chestnut, inclosed in an edible
pulp.
131. COFFEA ARABICA.--The coffee plant, which belongs to the
_Cinchonaceæ_ and is a native of Abyssinia, but is now cultivated
in many tropical regions. It can not be successfully cultivated in
a climate where the temperature, at any season of the year, falls
below 55 degrees, although it will exist where the temperature all
but falls short of freezing, but a low fall of temperature greatly
retards the ripening of the fruit. Ripe fruits are often gathered
from plants in the extreme south of Florida. The beans or seeds
are roasted before use, and by this process they gain nearly one
half in bulk and lose about a fifth in weight. Heat also changes
their essential qualities, causing the development of the volatile
oil and peculiar acid to which the aroma and flavor are due. The
berries contain theine; so also do the leaves, and in some
countries the latter are preferred.
132. COFFEA LIBERICA.--The Liberian coffee, cultivated in Africa, of
which country it is a native. This plant is of larger and stronger
growth than the Arabian coffee plant and the fruit is larger. This
species is of recent introduction to commerce, and although it was
reported as being more prolific than the ordinary coffee plant,
the statement has not been borne out in Brazil and Mexico, where
it has been tested. It is also more tender than the older known
species.
133. COLA ACUMINATA.--An African tree, which has been introduced into
the West Indies and Brazil for the sake of its seeds, which are
known as Cola, or Kola, or Goora nuts, and extensively used as a
sort of condiment by the natives of Africa. A small piece of one
of these seeds is chewed before each meal to promote digestion. It
possesses properties similar to the leaves of coca and contains
theine. These nuts have from time immemorial occupied a prominent
place in the dietetic economy of native tribes in Africa, and the
demand for them has established a large commercial industry in the
regions where they are obtained.
134. COLOCASIA ESCULENTA.--This plant has been recommended for
profitable culture in this country for its edible root-stock. It
is cultivated in the Sandwich Islands under the name of Tara. The
young leaves are cooked and eaten in the same manner as spinach or
greens in Egypt. They are acrid, but lose their acridity when
boiled, the water being changed. The roots are filled with starch,
and have long been used as food in various semitropical countries.
135. CONDAMINEA MACROPHYLLA.--This plant belongs to the cinchona
family, and contains tonic properties. The Peruvian bark gatherers
adulterate the true cinchona bark with this, but it may be
detected by its white inner surface, its less powerful bitter
taste, and a viscidity not possessed by the cinchonas.
136. CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA.--This plant furnishes the scammony of the
druggists.
137. COOKIA PUNCTATA.--A small-growing tree from China, which produces
a fruit known as the Wampee. This fruit is a globular berry, with
five or fewer compartments filled with juice. It is much esteemed
in China.
138. COPAIFERA OFFICINALIS.--This tree yields balsam of copaiba, used
in medicine. The balsam is collected by making incisions in the
stem, when the liquor is said to pour out copiously; as it exudes
it is thin and colorless, but immediately thickens and changes to
a clear yellow. Like many other balsams, it is nearly allied to
the turpentines; it has a moderately agreeable smell, and a
bitter, biting taste of considerable duration. Distilled with
water it yields a limpid essential oil.
139. COPERNICA CERIFERA.--The Carnuba, or wax palm of Brazil. It grows
about 40 feet high, and has a trunk 6 or 8 inches thick, composed
of very hard wood, which is commonly employed in Brazil for
building and other purposes. The upper part of the young stem is
soft, and yields a kind of sago, and the bitter fruits are eaten
by the Indians. The young leaves are coated with wax, called
Carnaub wax, which is detached by shaking them, and then melted
and run into cakes; it is harder than beeswax, and has been used
for making candles. The leaves are used for thatch, and, when
young, are eaten by cattle.
140. COPROSMA ROBUSTA.--A cinchonaceous shrub. The leaves of this plant
were formerly used in some of the religious ceremonies of the New
Zealanders.
141. CORDIA MYXA.--This produces succulent, mucilaginous, and emollient
fruits, which are eaten. These qualities, combined with a slight
astringency, have led to their use as pectorals, known as
Sebestens. The wood of this tree is said to have furnished the
material used by the Egyptians in the construction of their mummy
cases; it is also considered to be one of the best woods for
kindling fire by friction.
142. CORDYLINE AUSTRALIS.--The Australian Ti, or cabbage tree, a
palm-like plant of 15 to 20 feet in height. The whole plant is
fibrous, and it has been suggested as good for a paper-making
material. The juice of the roots and stem contains a small amount
of sugar, and has been employed for procuring alcohol.
143. CORYPHA UMBRACULIFERA.--The Talipot palm, a native of Ceylon,
producing gigantic fan-like leaves. These leaves have prickly
stalks 6 or 7 feet long, and when fully expanded form a nearly
complete circle of 13 feet in diameter. Large fans made of these
leaves are carried before people of rank among the Cinghalese;
they are also commonly used as umbrellas, and tents are made by
neatly joining them together; they are also used as a substitute
for paper, being written upon with a stylus. Some of the sacred
books of the Cinghalese are composed of strips of them. The hard
seeds are used by turners.
144. COUROUPITA GUIANENSIS.--The fruit of this tree is called, from its
appearance, the cannon-ball fruit; its shell is used as a drinking
vessel, and when fresh the pulp is of an agreeable flavor.
145. CRATÆVA GYNANDRA.--This West Indian tree yields a small fruit
which has a strong smell of garlic, hence it is called the garlic
pear. The bark is bitter and used as a tonic.
146. CRESCENTIA CUJETE.--The calabash tree of the West Indies, where it
is valued for the sake of its fruits, which resemble pumpkins in
appearance and occasionally reach a diameter of 18 inches.
Divested of their pulp, which is not edible, they serve various
useful domestic purposes, for carrying water, and even as kettles
for cooking. They are strong and light.
147. CROTON BALSAMIFERUM.--This West Indian shrub is sometimes called
seaside balsam or sage. A thick, yellowish, aromatic juice exudes
from the extremities of the broken branches, or wherever the stem
has been wounded. In Martinique a liquor called _Eau de Mantes_ is
distilled from this balsamic juice with spirits of wine. The young
leaves and branches are used in warm baths, on account of their
agreeable fragrance and reputed medicinal virtues.
148. CROTON ELEUTHERIA.--This plant furnishes cascarilla bark, used as
an aromatic bitter tonic, having no astringency. It has a fragrant
smell when burnt, on which account it has been mixed with smoking
tobacco.
149. CROTON TIGLIUM.--A plant of the family _Euphorbiaceæ_, from the
Indian Archipelago, which produces the seeds from whence croton
oil is extracted. It is a very powerful medicine, and even in
pressing the seeds for the purpose of extracting the oil, the
workmen are subject to irritation of the eyes and other
casualties.
150. CUBEBA OFFICINALIS.--A native of Java, which furnishes the cubeb
fruits of commerce. These fruits are like black pepper, but
stalked, and have an acrid, hot, aromatic taste; frequently used
medicinally.
151. CURCAS PURGANS.--A tropical plant cultivated in many warm
countries for the sake of its seeds, known as physic nuts. The
juice of the plant, which is milky, acrid, and glutinous, produces
an indelible brown stain on linen. The oil from the seeds is used
for burning in lamps; and in paints. In China it is boiled with
oxide of iron and used as a varnish. It is also used medicinally.
152. CURCUMA LONGA.--A plant belonging to the _Zingiberaceæ_, the roots
of which furnish turmeric. This powder is used in India as a mild
aromatic, and for other medicinal purposes. It also enters into
the composition of curry-powder, and a sort of arrowroot is made
from the young tubers.
153. CURCUMA ZEDOARIA.--This plant furnishes zedoary tubers, much used
in India as aromatic tonics.
154. CYATHEA MEDULLARIS.--This beautiful tree fern is a native of
Australia, where it attains a height of 25 to 30 feet, having
fronds from 10 to 15 feet in length. It contains a pulpy substance
in the center of the stem, of a starchy, mucilaginous nature,
which is a common article of food with the natives. The trees have
to be destroyed in order to obtain it.
155. CYBISTAX ANTISYPHILITICA.--A plant of the order of _Bignoniaceæ_,
called Atunyangua in the Andes of Peru, where the inhabitants dye
their cotton clothes by boiling them along with the leaves of this
plant; the dye is a permanent blue. The bark of the young shoots
is much employed in medicine.
156. CYCAS REVOLUTA.--The sago palm of gardens. The stem of the plants
abounds in starch, which is highly esteemed in Japan. A gum exudes
from the trunk of the old plant, which is employed medicinally by
the natives of India.
157. CYCAS CIRCINALIS.--A native of Malabar, where a kind of sago is
prepared from the seeds, which are dried and powdered; medicinal
properties are also attributed to the seeds.
158. DACRYDIUM FRANKLINII.--Called Huon pine, because of its being
found near the Huon River, in Tasmania. It belongs to the yew
family. It furnishes valuable timber, very durable, and is used
for ship and house building; some of the wood is very beautifully
marked, and is used in furniture making and cabinetwork.
159. DALBERGIA SISSOO.--A tree of northern India, the timber of which
is known as Sissum wood. This wood is strong, tenacious, and
compact, much used for railway ties and for gun-carriages.
160. DAMARA AUSTRALIS.--A singular plant of the _Coniferæ_ family,
called the Kauri pine. It forms a tree 150 to 200 feet in height,
and produces a hard, brittle resin-like copal, which is used in
varnish.
161. DASYLIRION ACROTRICHUM.--A plant of the pineapple family, from
Mexico. The leaves contain a fine fiber, which may be ultimately
more extensively utilized than it is at present.
162. DESMODIUM GYRANS.--An interesting plant of the pea family, called
the moving plant, on account of the rotatory motion of the
leaflets. These move in all conceivable ways, either steadily or
by jerks. Sometimes only one leaf or two on the plant will be
affected; at other times a nearly simultaneous movement may be
seen in all the leaves. These movements are most energetic when
the thermometer marks about 80°. This motion is not due to any
external or mechanical irritation.
163. DIALIUM ACUTIFOLIUM.--The velvet tamarind, so called, from the
circumstance that its seed-pods are covered with a beautiful black
velvet down. The seeds are surrounded by a farinaceous pulp of an
agreeable acid taste.
164. DIALIUM INDUM.--The tamarind plum, which has a delicious pulp of
slightly acid flavor.
165. DICKSONIA ANTARCTICA.--The large fern tree of Australia. This
plant attains the height of 30 or more feet, and its fronds or
leaves spread horizontally some 20 to 25 feet. It is found in
snowy regions, and would be perfectly hardy south. It is one of
the finest objects of the vegetable kingdom when of sufficient
size to show its true beauties.
166. DIEFFENBACHIA SEGUINA.--This has acquired the name of dumb cane,
in consequence of its fleshy, cane-like stems, rendering
speechless any person who may happen to bite them, their acrid
poison causing the tongue to swell to an immense size. An ointment
for applying to dropsical swellings is prepared by boiling the
juice in lard. Notwithstanding its acridity, a wholesome starch is
prepared from the stem.
167. DILLENIA SPECIOSA.--An East Indian tree, bearing a fruit which is
used in curries and for making jellies. Its slightly acid juice,
sweetened with sugar, forms a cooling beverage. The wood is very
tough, and is used for making gun-stocks.
168. DION EDULE.--A Mexican plant, bearing large seeds containing a
quantity of starch, which is separated and used as arrowroot.
169. DIOSPYROS EBENUM.--An East Indian tree which in part yields the
black ebony wood of commerce, much used in fancy cabinetwork and
turnery, door knobs, pianoforte keys, etc.
170. DIOSPYROS KAKI.--The Chinese date plum or persimmon. The fruits
vary in size from that of a medium-sized apple to that of a large
pear; they also vary much in their flavor and consistency, some
being firm, and others having a soft custard-like pulp, very sweet
and luscious. The Chinese dry them in the sun and make them into
sweetmeats; they are sometimes imported, and in appearance
resemble large-sized preserved figs. These plants are being quite
largely cultivated in some of the southern States, and the fruit
is entering commerce.
171. DIPTERIX ODORATA.--This leguminous plant yields the fragrant seed
known as Tonka bean, used in scenting snuff and for other purposes
of perfumery. The odor resembles that of new-mown hay, and is due
to the presence of _coumarine_. The tree is a native of Cayenne
and grows 60 to 80 feet high.
172. DORSTENIA CONTRAYERVA.--A plant from tropical America, the roots
of which are used in medicine under the name of Contrayerva root.
173. DRACÆNA DRACO.--The Dragon's Blood tree of Teneriffe. This
liliaceous plant attains a great age and enormous size. The resin
obtained from this tree has been found in the sepulchral caves of
the Cuanches, and hence it is supposed to have been used by them
in embalming the dead. Trees of this species, at present in
vigorous health, are supposed to be as old as the pyramids of
Egypt.
174. DRACÆNOPSIS AUSTRALIS.--Ti or cabbage tree of New Zealand. The
whole of this plant is fibrous and has been used for paper making.
The juice of the roots and stem contains a small amount of sugar
and has been used for producing alcohol.
175. DRIMYS WINTERI.--This plant belongs to the magnolia family and
furnishes the aromatic tonic known as Winter's bark. It is a
native of Chili and the Strait of Magalhaens.
176. DRYOBALANOPS AROMATICA.--A native of the Island of Sumatra. It
furnishes a liquid called camphor oil and a crystalline solid
known as Sumatra or Borneo camphor. Camphor oil is obtained from
incisions in the tree, and has a fragrant, aromatic odor. It has
been used for scenting soap. The solid camphor is found in cracks
of the wood, and is obtained by cutting down the tree, dividing it
into blocks and small pieces, from the interstices of which the
camphor is extracted. It differs from the ordinary camphor in
being more brittle and not condensing on the sides of the bottle
in which it is kept. It is much esteemed by the Chinese, who
attribute many virtues to it. It has been long known and is
mentioned by Marco Polo in the thirteenth century.
177. DUBOISIA HOPWOODII.--The leaves of this Australian plant are
chewed by the natives of Central Australia, just as the Peruvians
and Chilians masticate the leaves of the _Erythroxylon coca_, to
invigorate themselves during their long foot journeys through the
country. They are known as Pitury leaves.
178. DURIO ZIBETHINUS.--A common tree in the Malayan Islands, where its
fruit forms a great part of the food of the natives. It is said to
have a most delicious flavor combined with a most offensive odor,
but when once the repugnance of the peculiar odor is overcome it
becomes a general favorite. The unripe fruit is cooked and eaten,
and the seeds roasted and used like chestnuts.
179. ELÆIS GUINEENSIS.--The African oil palm is a native of
southwestern Africa, but has been introduced into other regions.
It grows to a height of 20 to 30 feet and bears dense heads of
fruit. The oil is obtained by boiling the fruits in water and
skimming off the oil as it rises to the surface. It is used in the
manufacture of candles. In Africa it is eaten as butter by the
natives.
180. ELÆIS MELANOCOCCA.--A palm from tropical America which produces
large quantities of oil.
181. ELÆOCARPUS HINAU.--A New Zealand tree, of the linden family. The
bark affords an excellent permanent dye, varying from light brown
to deep black. The fruits are surrounded by an edible pulp, and
they are frequently pickled like olives.
182. ELETTARIA CARDAMOMUM.--This plant furnishes the fruits known as
the Small or Malabar cardamoms of commerce. The seeds are used
medicinally for their cordial aromatic properties, which depend
upon the presence of a volatile oil. In India the fruits are
chewed by the natives with their betel.
183. EMBLICA OFFICINALIS.--A plant belonging to _Euphorbiaceæ_, a
native of India. In Borneo the bark and young shoots are used to
dye cotton black, for which purpose they are boiled in alum. The
fruits are made into sweetmeats, with sugar, or eaten raw, but
they are exceedingly acid; when ripe and dry, they are used in
medicine, under the name of _Myrobalani emblici_. The natives of
Travancore have a notion that the plant imparts a pleasant flavor
to water, and therefore place branches of the tree in their wells,
especially when the water is charged with an accumulation of
impure vegetable matter.
184. ENCKEA UNGUICULATA.--A plant of the family _Piperaceæ_, having an
aromatic fruit like a berry, with a thick rind. The roots are used
medicinally in Brazil.
185. ENTADA SCANDENS.--This leguminous plant has remarkable pods, which
often measure 6 or 8 feet in length. The seeds are about 2 inches
across, and half an inch thick, and have a hard, woody, and
beautifully polished shell, of a dark-brown or purplish color.
These seeds are frequently converted into snuff-boxes and other
articles, and in the Indian bazars they are used as weights.
186. ERIODENDRON ANFRACTUOSUM.--The silk-cotton, or God tree of the
West Indies. The fruit is a capsule, filled with a beautiful silky
fiber, which is very elastic, but can not be woven, and is only
used for stuffing cushions.
187. ERYTHRINA CAFFRA.--The Kaffir tree of South Africa. The wood is
soft and so light as to be used for floating fishing nets. The
scarlet seeds are employed for making necklaces. The Erythrinas,
of which there are many species, are mostly remarkable for the
brilliant scarlet of their flowers, and are known as Coral trees.
188. ERYTHRINA UMBROSA.--This is a favorite tree for growing in masses,
for the purpose of sheltering cocoanut plantations, and inducing a
proper degree of moisture in their neighborhood.
189. ERYTHROXYLON COCA.--The leaves of this plant, under the name of
coca, are much used by the inhabitants of South America as a
masticatory. It forms an article of commerce among the Indians,
who carefully dry the leaves and use them daily. Their use, in
moderation, acts as a stimulant to the nervous system and enables
those who chew them to perform long journeys without any other
food. The use of coca in Peru is a very ancient custom, said to
have originated with the Incas. It is common throughout the
greater part of Peru, Quito, New Granada; and on the banks of the
Rio Negro it is known as Spadic. A principle, called _cocaine_,
has been extracted from the leaves, which is used in medicine.
190. EUCALYPTUS AMYGDALINA.--The peppermint tree, a native of Tasmania.
It produces a thin, transparent oil possessed of a pungent odor
resembling oil of lemons, and tasting like camphor, which has
great solvent properties. The genus _Eucalyptus_ is extensive and
valuable. The greater number form large trees, known in Australia
as gum trees.
191. EUCALYPTUS GIGANTEA.--This stringy bark gum furnishes a strong,
durable timber, used for shipbuilding and other purposes. _E.
robusta_ contains large cavities in its stem, between the annual
concentric circles of wood, filled with a red gum. Many of the
species yield gums and astringent principles and also a species of
manna. The timber of these trees has been pronounced to be
unsurpassed for strength and durability by any other timber known.
The leaves of these trees are placed vertically to the sun, a
provision suited to a dry and sultry climate.
192. EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS.--The blue gum, a rapid-growing tree,
attaining to a large size. Recently it has attracted attention and
gained some repute in medicine as an antiperiodic. The leaves have
also been applied to wounds with some success. It produces a
strong camphor-smelling oil, which has a mint-like taste, not at
all disagreeable.
193. EUGENIA ACRIS.--The wild clove or bayberry tree of the West
Indies. In Jamaica it is sometimes called the black cinnamon. The
refreshing perfume known as bay rum is prepared by distilling the
leaves of this tree with rum. It is stated that the leaves of the
allspice are also used in this preparation.
194. EUGENIA JAMBOSA.--A tropical plant, belonging to the myrtle
family, which produces a pleasant rose-flavored fruit, known as
the Roseapple, or Jamrosade.
195. EUGENIA PIMENTO.--The fruits of this West Indian tree are known in
commerce as allspice; the berries have a peculiarly grateful odor
and flavor, resembling a combination of cloves, nutmeg, and
cinnamon; hence the name of allspice. The leaves when bruised emit
a fine aromatic odor, and a delicate odoriferous oil is distilled
from them, which is said to be used as oil of cloves. The berries,
bruised and distilled with water, yield the pimento oil of
commerce.
196. EUGENIA UGNI.--This small-foliaged myrtaceous plant is a native of
Chili. It bears a glossy black fruit, which has an agreeable
flavor and perfume, and is highly esteemed in its native country.
The plant is hardy in the Southern States.
197. EUPHORBIA CANARIENSIS.--This plant grows in abundance in the
Canary Islands and Teneriffe, in dry, rocky districts, where
little else can grow, and where it attains a height of 10 feet,
with the branches spreading 15 or 20 feet. It is one of the kinds
that furnish the drug known as _Euphorbium_. The milky juice
exudes from incisions made in the branches, and is so acrid that
it excoriates the hand when applied to it. As it hardens it falls
down in small lumps, and those who collect it are obliged to tie
cloths over their mouths and nostrils to exclude the small, dusty
particles, as they produce incessant sneezing. As a medicine its
action is violent, and it is now rarely employed. There are a vast
number of species of _Euphorbia_, varying exceedingly in their
general appearance, but all of them having a milky juice which
contains active properties. Many of them can scarcely be
distinguished from cactuses so far as relates to external
appearances, but the milky exudation following a puncture
determines their true character. _E. grandidens_ is a
tall-growing, branching species, and attains a height of 30 feet.
The natives of India use the juice of _E. antiquorum_, when
diluted, as a purgative. The juice of _E. heptagona_ and other
African species is employed to poison arrows; the juice of _E.
cotinifolia_ is used for the same purpose in Brazil. The roots of
_E. gerardiana_ and _E. pithyusa_ are emetic, while _E.
thymifolia_ and _E. hypericifolia_ possess astringent and aromatic
properties. The poisonous principle which pervades these plants is
more or less dissipated by heat. The juice of _E. cattimandoo_
furnishes caoutchouc of a very good quality, which, however,
becomes brittle, although soaking in hot water renders it again
pliable. _E. phosphorea_ derives the name from the fact of its sap
emitting a phosphorescent light, on warm nights, in the Brazilian
forests.
198. EUTERPE EDULIS.--The assai palm of Para. It grows in swampy lands,
and produces a small fruit thinly coated with clotted flesh of
which the inhabitants of Para manufacture a beverage called assai.
The ripe fruits are soaked in warm water and kneaded until the
fleshy pulp is detached. This, when strained, is of a thick,
creamy consistence, and, when thickened with cassava farina and
sweetened with sugar, forms a nutritious diet, and is the daily
food of a large number of the people.
199. EUTERPE MONTANA.--The center portion of the upper part of the stem
of this West Indian palm, including the leaf bud, is eaten either
when cooked as a vegetable or pickled, but the tree must be
destroyed in order to obtain it.
200. EXCŒCARIA SEBIFERA.--This Euphorbiaceous plant is the tallow tree
of China. The fruits, are about half an inch in diameter, and each
contains three seeds, thickly coated with a fatty substance which
yields the tallow. This is obtained by first steaming the seeds,
then bruising them to loosen the fat without breaking the seeds,
which are removed by sifting. The fat is then made into flat
circular cakes and pressed, when the pure tallow exudes in a
liquid state and soon hardens into a white, brittle mass. Candles
made from this get soft in hot weather, which is prevented by
coating them with insect wax. A liquid oil is obtained from the
seeds by pressing. The tree yields a hard wood, used by the
Chinese for printing blocks, and its leaves are used in dyeing
black.
201. EXOGONIUM PURGA.--This plant furnishes the true jalap-tubers of
commerce. They owe their well-known purgative properties to their
resinous ingredients. Various species of Ipomœa furnish a spurious
kind of this drug, which is often put in the market as the genuine
article.
202. EXOSTEMMA CARIBÆUM.--This West Indian plant has become naturalized
in southern Florida. It belongs to the cinchona family and is
known as Jamaica bark. It is also known as Quinquina Caraibe. The
bark is reputed to be a good febrifuge, and also to be employed as
an emetic. It is supposed to contain some peculiar principle, as
the fracture displays an abundance of small crystals. The
capsules, before they are ripe, are very bitter, and their juice
causes a burning itching on the lips.
203. FERONIA ELEPHANTUM.--The wood apple or elephant apple tree of
India, belonging to the family _Aurantiaceæ_. It forms a large
tree in Ceylon, and yields a hard, heavy wood, of great strength.
It yields a gum, which is mixed with other gums and sold under the
name of East Indian gum arabic. The fruit is about the size of an
orange, and contains a pulpy flesh, which is edible, and a jelly
is made from it, which is used in cases of dysentery. The leaves
have an odor like that of anise, and the native India doctors
employ them as a stomachic and carminative.
204. FEVILLEA CORDIFOLIA.--The sequa or cacoon antidote of Jamaica. It
belongs to the cucumber family, and climbs to a great height up
the trunks of trees. The seeds are employed as a remedy in a
variety of diseases, and are considered an antidote against the
effects of poison; they also contain a quantity of semisolid fatty
oil, which is liberated by pressing and boiling them in water.
205. FICUS ELASTICA.--This plant is known as the india-rubber tree. It
is a native of the East Indies, and is the chief source of
caoutchouc from that quarter of the globe, although other species
of Ficus yield this gum, as well as several plants of other
genera. It is a plant of rapid growth, and from the larger
branches roots descend to the earth as in the case of the banyan
tree.
206. FICUS INDICA.--The famous banyan tree of history. Specimens of
this Indian fig are mentioned as being of immense size. One in
Bengal spreads over a diameter of 370 feet. Another covered an
area of 1,700 square yards. It is one of the sacred trees of the
Hindoos. It was known to the ancients. Strabo describes it, and it
is mentioned by Pliny. Milton also alludes to it as follows:
Branching so broad along, that in the ground
The bending twigs take root; and daughters grow
About the mother tree; a pillared shade,
High overarched, with echoing walks between.
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.
207. FICUS RELIGIOSA.--The pippul tree of the Hindoos, which they hold
in such veneration that, if a person cuts or lops off any of the
branches, he is looked upon with as great abhorrence as if he had
broken the leg of one of their equally sacred cows. The seeds are
employed by Indian doctors in medicine.
208. FLACOURTIA SEPIARIA.--A bushy shrub, used in India for hedges. Its
fruit has a pleasant, subacid flavor when perfectly ripe, but the
unripe fruit is extremely astringent. The Indian doctors use a
liniment made of the bark in cases of gout, and an infusion of it
as a cure for snake bites.
209. FOURCROYA CUBENSE.--This plant is closely related to the agave,
and, like many of that genus, furnishes a fine fiber, which is
known in St. Domingo as Cabuya fiber. These plants are very
magnificent when in flower, throwing up stems 20 to 30 feet in
height, covered with many hundreds of yucca-like blossoms.
210. FRANCISCEA UNIFLORA.--A Brazilian plant called Mercurio vegetal;
also known as Manaca. The roots, and to some extent the leaves,
are used in medicine; the inner bark and all the herbaceous parts
are nauseously bitter; it is regarded as a purgative, emetic, and
alexipharmic; in overdoses it is an acrid poison.
211. FUSANUS ACUMINATUS.--A small tree of the Cape of Good Hope and
Australia. It bears a globular fruit of the size of a small peach,
and is known in Australia as the native peach. It has an edible
nut, called the Quandang nut, which is said to be as sweet and
palatable as the almond.
212. GALIPEA OFFICINALIS.--This South American tree furnishes Angostura
bark, which has important medical properties, some physicians in
South America preferring it to cinchona in the treatment of
fevers. Its use has been greatly retarded by bark of the deadly
nux-vomica tree having been inadvertently sold for it. As this
bark is sometimes used in bitters, a mistake, as above, might
prove as fatal as cholera.
213. GARCINIA MANGOSTANA.--This tree produces the tropical fruit called
mangosteen, a beautiful fruit, having a thick, succulent rind,
which contains an astringent juice, and exudes a gum similar to
gamboge. The esculent interior contains a juicy pulp, of the
whiteness and solubility of snow, and of a refreshing, delicate,
delicious flavor. The bark of the tree is used as a basis for
black dye, and it has also some medicinal value.
214. GARCINIA MORELLA.--It is supposed that Siam gamboge is obtained
from this tree, also that known as Ceylon gamboge. The juice is
collected by incising the stems, or by breaking young twigs of the
tree and securing the yellow gum resinous exudations in hollow
bamboos, where it is allowed to harden. It is employed by artists
in water colors and as a varnish for lacquer work.
215. GARCINIA PICTORIA.--A fatty matter known as gamboge butter is
procured from the seeds of this tree in Mysore. They are pounded
in a stone mortar, then boiled till the butter or oil rises to the
surface. It is used as a lamp oil, and sometimes in food.
216. GARDENIA FLORIDA and GARDENIA RADICANS.--Cape Jasmines, so called
from a supposition that they were natives of the Cape of Good
Hope. The genus belongs to the cinchona family. _G. lucida_
furnishes a fragrant resin somewhat similar to myrrh. The fruit of
_G. campanulata_ is used as a cathartic, and also to wash out
stains in silks. _G. gummifera_ yields a resin something like
Elemi.
217. GASTROLOBIUM BILOBUM.--A leguminous plant, having poisonous
properties. In western Australia, where it is a native, farmers
often lose their cattle through their eating the foliage. Cats and
dogs that eat the flesh of these poisoned cattle are also
poisoned. _G. obtusum_ and _G. spinosum_ possess similar
properties.
218. GENIPA AMERICANA.--This belongs to the cinchona family, and
produces the fruit called genipap or marmalade box. It is about
the size of an orange, and has an agreeable flavor. The juice of
the fruit yields a bluish-black dye, called Canito or Lana-dye.
This color is very permanent, and is much used by Indians in South
America.
219. GEONOMA SCHOTTIANA.--A pretty Brazilian palm; the leaves are used
for thatching huts, and other parts of the plant are utilized.
220. GOUANIA DOMINGENSIS.--A plant of the buckthorn family, known in
Jamaica as Chaw-Stick, on account of its thin branches being
chewed as an agreeable stomachic. Tooth brushes are made by
cutting pieces of the stem to convenient lengths and fraying out
the ends. A tooth powder is prepared by pulverizing the dried
stems. It is said to possess febrifugal properties, and owing to
its pleasant bitter taste it is used for flavoring cooling
beverages.
221. GREVILLEA ROBUSTA.--The silk oak tree of Australia; a tree that
attains a large size, and is remarkable for the graceful beauty of
its foliage.
222. GREWIA ASIATICA.--This Indian tree represents a genus of plants of
considerable economic value. This particular species yields a
profusion of small red fruits which are used for flavoring drinks,
having a pleasant acid flavor. The fibrous inner bark is employed
by the natives for making fishing nets, ropes, twine, and for
other similar purposes.
223. GRIAS CAULIFLORA.--The anchovy pear of Jamaica. The fruit is
pickled and eaten like the mango, having a similar taste.
224. GUAIACUM OFFICINALE.--The wood of this tree is called Lignum Vitæ.
A resin, called gum guaiacum, exudes from the stem, and is
otherwise obtained from the wood by artificial means. It is of a
greenish-brown color, with a balsamic fragrance, and is
remarkable for the changes of color it undergoes when brought into
contact with various substances. Gluten gives it a blue tint:
nitric acid and chlorin change it successively to green, blue, and
brown. The resin is used medicinally as also are the bark and
wood.
225. GUAZUMA TOMENTOSA.--This plant is nearly allied to the
chocolate-nut tree, and yields fruits that abound in mucilage, as
also does the bark of the young shoots. The mucilage is given out
in water, and has been used as a substitute for gelatin or albumen
in clarifying cane juice in the manufacture of sugar. The timber
is light, and is employed for the staves of sugar hogsheads; it is
known in Jamaica as bastard cedar. A strong fiber is obtained from
the young shoots.
226. GUILIELMA SPECIOSA.--The peach palm of Venezuela. The fruits are
borne in large drooping bunches, and their fleshy outer portion
contains starchy matter, which forms a portion of the food of the
natives. They are cooked and eaten with salt, and are said to
resemble a potato in flavor. A beverage is prepared by fermenting
them in water, and the meal obtained from them is made into bread.
The wood of the old trees is black, and so hard as to turn the
edge of an ax.
227. HÆMATOXYLON CAMPECHIANUM.--The logwood tree. This dyestuff is
largely used by calico printers and other dyeing manufacturers. It
is also used as an ingredient in some writing inks. The heart wood
is the part used for dyeing. This is cut into chips which yield
their color to water and alcohol. The colors are various according
to treatment, giving violet, yellow, purple, and blue, but the
consumption of logwood is for black colors, which are obtained by
alum and iron bases.
228. HARDENBERGIA MONOPHYLLA.--An Australian climbing plant of the
leguminous family. The long, carrot-shaped, woody root was called,
by the early settlers in that country, sarsaparilla, and is still
used in infusion as a substitute for that root.
229. HARTIGHSEA SPECTABILIS.--A New Zealand tree, called Wahahe by the
natives, who employ the leaves as a substitute for hops, and also
prepare from them a spirituous infusion as a stomachic medicine.
230. HELICONIA BIHAI.--A plant of the order _Musaceæ_, from South
America. The young shoots are eaten by the natives, and the fruits
are also collected and used as food. It also furnishes a useful
fiber.
231. HEVEA BRASILIENSIS.--A tree of tropical America growing in damp
forests, especially in the Amazon valley, which, together with
other trees called siphonia furnish the Para rubber, or American
caoutchouc. The sap is collected from incisions made in the tree
during the dry season, and is poured over clay molds and dried by
gentle heat, successive pourings being made till a sufficiently
thick layer is produced.
232. HIBISCUS ROSA SINENSIS.--The flowers of this malvaceous plant
contain a quantity of astringent juice, and, when bruised, rapidly
turn black or deep purple; they are used by the Chinese ladies for
dyeing their hair and eyebrows, and in Java for blacking shoes.
233. HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA.--This species is known in the West Indies as
red sorrel, on account of the calyxes and capsules having an acid
taste. They are made into cooling drinks, by sweetening and
fermentation. The bark contains a strong useful fiber which makes
good ropes if not too much twisted. It is also known as the
Roselle plant.
234. HIBISCUS TILIACEUS.--A plant common to many tropical countries.
Its wood is extremely light when dry, and is employed by the
Polynesians for getting fire by friction, which is said to be a
very tedious and tiresome operation, and difficult to accomplish.
Good fiber is also obtained from the bark.
235. HIPPOMANE MANCINELLA.--This is the poisonous manchineel tree of
South America and other tropical regions. The virulent nature of
the juice of this tree has given it a reputation equal to that
forced upon the upas tree of Java. The juice is certainly very
acrid, and even its smoke, when burning, causes temporary
blindness. The fruit is equally dangerous, and from its beautiful
appearance is sometimes partaken of by those who are unaware of
its deleterious properties, but its burning effects on the lips
soon causes them to desist. Indians are said to poison their
arrows with the juice of this tree.
236. HURA CREPITANS.--This tropical plant is known as the sand-box
tree. Its deep-furrowed, rounded, hard-shelled fruit is about the
size of an orange, and when ripe and dry, it bursts open with a
sharp noise like the report of a pistol; hence, it is also called
the monkey's dinner bell. An emetic oil is extracted from the
seeds, and a venomous, milky juice is abundant in all parts of the
plant.
237. HYMENÆA COURBARIL.--The locust tree of the West Indies; also
called algarroba in tropical regions. This is one of the very
largest growing trees known, and living trees in Brazil are
supposed to have been growing at the commencement of the Christian
era. The timber is very hard, and is much used for building
purposes. A valuable resin, resembling the anime of Africa, exudes
from the trunk, and large lumps of it are found about the roots of
old trees.
238. HYPHÆNE THEBAICA.--The doum, or doom palm, or gingerbread of
Egypt; it grows also in Nubia, Abyssinia, and Arabia. The fibrous,
mealy husks of the seeds are eaten, and taste almost like
gingerbread. In the Thebias this palm forms extensive forests, the
roots spreading over the lurid ruins of one of the largest and
most splendid cities of the ancient world.
239. ICICA HEPTAPHYLLA.--The incense tree of Guiana, a tall-growing
tree, furnishing wood of great durability. It is called cedar wood
on account of its fragrant odor. The balsam from the trunk is
highly odoriferous, and used in perfumery, and is known as balsam
of acouchi; it is used in medicine. The balsam and branches are
burned as incense in churches.
240. ILEX PARAGUAYENSIS.--This is the tea plant of South America, where
it occupies the same important position in the domestic economy of
the country as the Chinese tea does in this. The _maté_ is
prepared by drying and roasting the leaves, which are then reduced
to a powder and made into packages. When used, a small portion of
the powder is placed in a vessel, sugar is added, and boiling
water poured over the whole. It has an agreeable, slightly
aromatic odor, rather bitter to the taste, but very refreshing and
invigorating to the human frame after severe fatigue. It acts in
some degree as an aperient and diuretic, and in overdoses produces
intoxication. It contains the same active principle, theine as tea
and coffee, but not their volatile and empyreumatic oils.
241. ILLICIUM ANISATUM.--This magnoliaceous plant is a native of China,
and its fruit furnishes the star anise of commerce. In China,
Japan, and India it is used as a condiment in the preparation of
food, and is chewed to promote digestion, and the native
physicians prescribe it as a carminative. It is the flavoring
ingredient of the preparation _Anisette de Bordeaux_. Its flavor
and odor are due to a volatile oil, which is extracted by
distillation, and sold as oil of anise, which is really a
different article.
242. ILLICIUM FLORIDANUM.--A native of the Southern States. The leaves
are said to be poisonous; hence, the plant is sometimes called
poison bag. The bark has been used as a substitute for cascarilla.
243. ILLICIUM RELIGIOSUM.--A Japanese species, which reaches the size
of a small tree, and is held sacred by the Japanese, who form
wreaths of it with which to decorate the tombs of their deceased
friends, and they also burn the fragrant bark as incense. Their
watchmen use the powdered bark for burning in graduated tubes, in
order to mark the time, as it consumes slowly and uniformly. The
leaves are said to possess poisonous properties.
244. INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA.--The indigo plant, a native of Asia, but
cultivated and naturalized in many countries. The use of indigo as
a dye is of great antiquity. Both Dioscorides and Pliny mention
it, and it is supposed to have been employed by the ancient
Egyptians. The indigo of commerce is prepared by throwing the
fresh cut plants into water, where they are steeped for twelve
hours, when the water is run off into a vessel and agitated in
order to promote the formation of the blue coloring matter, which
does not exist ready formed in the tissues of the plant, but is
the result of the oxidation of other substances contained in them.
The coloring matter then settles at the bottom; it is then boiled
to a certain consistency and afterwards spread out on cloth
frames, where it is further drained of water and pressed into
cubes or cakes for market.
245. IPOMŒA PURGA.--A species of jalap is obtained from this
convolvulaceous plant; this is a resinous matter contained in the
juices.
246. IRIARTELLA SETIGERA.--A South American palm growing in the
underwood of the forests on the Amazon and Rio Negro. The Indians
use its slender stems for making their blow pipes or gravatanas,
through which they blow small poisoned arrows with accuracy to a
considerable distance.
247. JAMBOSA MALACCENSIS.--This Indian plant belongs to the myrtle
family. It produces a good-sized edible fruit known as the Malay
apple.
248. JASMINUM SAMBAC TRIFOLIATUM.--A native of South America. The
flowers are very fragrant, and an essential oil, much used in
perfumery under the name of jasmine oil, is obtained from this and
other species.
249. JATROPHA CLAUCA.--An East Indian plant the seeds of which when
crushed furnish an oil which is used in medicine.
250. JATROPHA CURCAS.--The physic nut tree of tropical America. This
plant contains a milky, acrid, glutinous juice, which forms a
permanent stain when dropped on linen, and which might form a good
marking ink. Burning oil is expressed from the seeds in the
Philippine Islands; the oil, boiled with oxide of iron, is used in
China as a varnish. It is used in medicine in various ways, the
leaves for fomentations, the juice in treating ulcers, and the
seeds as purgatives.
251. JUBÆA SPECTABILIS.--The coquito palm of Chili. The seed or nut is
called cokernut, and has a pleasant, nutty taste. These are used
by the Chilian confectioners in the preparation of sweetmeats, and
by the boys as marbles, being in shape and size like them. The
leaves are used for thatching, and the trunks or stems are
hollowed out and converted into water pipes. A sirup called Miel
de Palma or palm honey, is prepared by boiling the sap of this
tree to the consistency of treacle, and is much esteemed for
domestic use as sugar. The sap is obtained by cutting off the
crown of leaves when it immediately begins to flow and continues
for several months provided a thin slice is shaved off the top
every morning. Full-grown trees will thus yield 90 gallons.
252. KÆMPFERIA GALANGA.--This plant belongs to the family of gingers.
The root stocks have an aromatic fragrance and are used
medicinally in India as well as in the preparation of perfumery.
The flowers appear before the leaves upon very short stems.
253. KIGELIA PINNATA.--This plant is interesting from the circumstance
of its being held sacred in Nubia, where the inhabitants celebrate
their religious festivals under it by moonlight, and poles made of
its wood are erected as symbols of special veneration before the
houses of their great chiefs. The fruits, which are very large,
when cut in half and slightly roasted, are employed as an outward
application to relieve pains.
254. KRAMERIA TRIANDRA.--This is one of the species that yield the
rhatany roots of commerce. In Peru an extract is made from this
species, which is a mild, easily assimilated, astringent medicine.
It acts as a tonic, and is used in intermittent and putrid fevers.
It is also styptic, and when applied in plasters is used in curing
ulcers. The color of the infusion of the roots is blood-red, on
which account it is used to adulterate, or rather it forms an
ingredient in the fabrication of port wine.
255. KYDIA CALYCINA.--An Indian plant of the family _Byttneriaceæ_. The
bark is employed in infusion as a sudorific and in cutaneous
diseases, and its fibrous tissue is manufactured into cordage.
256. LAGETTA LINTEARIA.--The lace-bark tree of Jamaica. The inner bark
consists of numerous concentric layers of fibers, which interlace
in all directions, and thus present a great resemblance to lace.
Articles of apparel are made of it. Caps, ruffles, and even
complete suits of lace are made with it. It bears washing with
common soap, and when bleached in the sun acquires a degree of
whiteness equal to the best artificial lace. Ropes made of it are
very durable and strong.
257. LANSIUM DOMESTICUM.--A low-growing tree of the East Indies, which
is cultivated to some extent for its fruit, which is known in Java
and Malacca as lanseh fruit, and is much esteemed for its delicate
aroma; the pulp is of somewhat firm consistence and contains a
cooling, refreshing juice.
258. LAPAGERIA ROSEA.--A twining plant from Chili. The flowers are very
beautiful, and are succeeded by berries, which are said to be
sweet and eatable. The root has qualities closely resembling
sarsaparilla and used for the same purpose.
259. LATANIA RUBRA.--A very beautiful palm from the Mauritius. The
fruit contains a small quantity of pulp, which is eaten by the
natives, but is not considered very palatable by travelers.
260. LAWSONIA INERMIS.--This is the celebrated henna of the East. The
use of the powdered leaves as a cosmetic is very general in Asia
and northern Africa, the practice having descended from very
remote ages, as is proved by the Egyptian mummies, the parts dyed
being usually the finger and toe nails, the tips of the fingers,
the palms of the hands, and soles of the feet, receiving a reddish
color, considered by Oriental belles as highly ornamental. Henna
is prepared by reducing the leaves to powder, and when used is
made into a pasty mass with water and spread on the part to be
dyed, being allowed to remain for twelve hours. The plant is known
in the West Indies as Jamaica Mignonette.
261. LECYTHIS OLLARIA.--This tree produces the hard urn-shaped fruits
known in Brazil as monkey cups. The seeds are eatable and sold as
Sapucaia nuts. The fruit vessels are very peculiar, being 6 inches
in diameter and having closely fitting lids, which separate when
the seeds are mature. The bark is composed of a great number of
layers, not thicker than writing paper, which the Indians separate
and employ as cigar wrappers.
262. LEPTOSPERMUM LANIGERUM.--A plant known throughout Australia as
Captain Cook's tea tree, from the circumstance that, on the first
landing of this navigator in that country, he employed a decoction
of the leaves of this plant as a corrective to the effects of
scurvy among his crew, and this proved an efficient medicine.
Thickets of this plant, along the swampy margin of streams, are
known as Tea-tree scrubs. It is also known among the natives as
the Manuka plant. The wood is hard and heavy, and was formerly
used for making sharp-pointed spears. It belongs to the myrtle
family of plants.
263. LICUALA ACUTIFIDA.--This palm is a native of the island of
Pulo-Penango, and yields canes known by the curious name of Penang
Lawyers. It is a low-growing plant, its stems averaging an inch in
diameter. The stems are converted into walking canes by scraping
their rough exteriors and straightening them by means of fire
heat.
264. LIMONIA ACIDISSIMA.--An East India shrub which produces round
fruits about the size of damson plums, of a yellowish color, with
reddish or purplish tints. They are extremely acid, and the pulp
is employed in Java as a substitute for soap.
265. LIVISTONA AUSTRALIS.--This is one of the few palms found in
Australia. The unexpanded leaves, prepared by being scalded and
dried in the shade, are used for making hats, while the still
younger and more tender leaves are eaten like cabbage.
266. LUCUMA MAMMOSUM.--This sapotaceous plant is cultivated for its
fruit, which is called marmalade, on account of its containing a
thick agreeably flavored pulp, bearing some resemblance in
appearance and taste to quince marmalade. A native of South
America.
267. MABA GEMINATA.--The ebony wood of Queensland. The heart wood is
black, and the outside wood of a bright red color. It is
close-grained, hard, heavy, elastic and tough, and takes a high
polish.
268. MACADAMIA TERNIFOLIA.--An Australian tree which produces an edible
nut called the Queensland nut. This fruit is about the size of a
walnut, and within a thick pericarp, a smooth brown-colored nut,
inclosing a kernel of a rich and agreeable flavor, resembling in
some degree that of a filbert.
269. MACHÆRIUM FIRMUM.--A South American tree which furnishes a portion
of the rosewood of commerce. Various species of the genus, under
the common Brazilian name of Jaccaranda, are said to yield this
wood, but there is some uncertainty about the origin of the
various commercial rosewoods.
270. MACLURA TINCTORIA.--The fustic tree. Large quantities of the
bright yellow wood of this tree are exported from South America
for the use of dyers, who obtain from it shades of yellow, brown,
olive, and green. A concentrated decoction of the wood deposits,
on cooling, a yellow crystalline matter called Morine. This tree
is sometimes called old fustic, in order to distinguish it from
another commercial dye called young fustic, which is obtained in
Europe from a species of Rhus.
271. MACROPIPER METHYSTICUM.--A plant of the pepper family, which
furnishes the root called Ava by the Polynesians. It has narcotic
properties, and is employed medicinally, but is chiefly remarkable
for the value attached to it as a narcotic and stimulant beverage,
of which the natives partake before they commence any important
business or religious rites. It is used by chewing the root and
extracting the juice, and has a calming rather than an
intoxicating effect. It is a filthy preparation, and only partaken
of by the lower classes of Feejeeans.
272. MACROZAMIA DENISONII.--An Australian cycad, the seeds of which
contain a large amount of farina, or starchy matter, which
formerly supplied a considerable amount of food for the natives of
that country. The fresh seeds are very acrid, but when steeped in
water and roasted they become palatable and nutritious.
273. MALPIGHIA GLABRA.--A low-growing tree of the West Indies, which
produces an edible fruit called the Barbadoes cherry.
274. MAMMEA AMERICANA.--The fruit of this tree, under the name of
mammee apple, is very much esteemed in tropical countries. It
often attains a size of 6 or 8 inches in diameter and is of a
yellow color. The outer rind and the pulp which immediately
surrounds the seeds are very bitter, but the intermediate is sweet
and aromatic. The seeds are used as anthelmintics, an aromatic
liquor is distilled from the flowers, and the acrid, resinous gum
distilled from the bark is used to destroy insects.
275. MANETTIA CORDIFOLIA.--This climbing-plant is a native of South
America, and belongs to the family of _Cinchonaceæ_. The rind of
the root has emetic properties, and is used in Brazil for dropsy
and other diseases. It is also exported under the name of
Ipecacuan, chiefly from Buenos Ayres.
276. MANGIFERA INDICA.--The mango, in some of its varieties esteemed as
the most delicious of tropical fruits, while many varieties
produce fruit whose texture resembles cotton and tastes of
turpentine. The unripe fruit is pickled. The pulp contains gallic
and citric acid. The seeds possess anthelmintic properties. A soft
gum resin exudes from the wounded bark, which is used medicinally.
277. MANICARIA SACCIFERA.--Bussu palm of South America. Its large
leaves are used for thatching roofs, for which purpose they are
well fitted and very durable. The fibrous spathe furnishes a
material of much value to the natives. This fibrous matter when
taken off entire is at once converted into capital bags, in which
the Indian keeps the red paint for his toilet, or the silk cotton
for his arrows, or he stretches out the larger ones to make
himself a cap of nature's own weaving, without seam or joint.
278. MANIHOT UTILISSIMA.--This euphorbiaceous plant yields cassava or
mandiocca meal. It is extensively cultivated in tropical climates
and supplies a great amount of food. The root is the part used,
and in its natural condition is a most virulent poison, but by
grating the roots to a pulp the poison is expelled by pressure,
and altogether dissipated by cooking. The expressed juice, when
allowed to settle, deposits the starch known as tapioca.
279. MARANTA ARUNDINACEA.--The arrowroot plant, cultivated for its
starch. The tubers being reduced to pulp with water, the fecula
subsides, and is washed and dried for commerce. It is a very pure
kind of starch, and very nutritious. The term arrowroot is said to
be derived from the fact that the natives of the West Indies use
the roots of the plant as an application to wounds made by poison
arrows.
280. MAURITIA FLEXUOSA.--The Moriche, or Ita palm, very abundant on the
banks of the Amazon, Rio Negro, and Orinoco Rivers. In the delta
of the latter it occupies swampy tracts of ground, which are at
times completely inundated, and present the appearance of forests
rising out of the water. These swamps are frequented by a tribe of
Indians called Guaranes, who subsist almost entirely upon the
produce of this palm, and during the period of the inundations
suspend their dwellings from the tops of its tall stems. The outer
skin of the young leaves is made into string and cord for the
manufacture of hammocks. The fermented sap yields palm wine, and
another beverage is prepared from the young fruits, while the soft
inner bark of the stem yields a farinaceous substance like sago.
281. MAXIMILIANA REGIA.--An Amazonian palm called Inaja. The spathes
are so hard that, when filled with water, they will stand the
fire, and are sometimes used by the Indians as cooking utensils.
The Indians who prepare the kind of rubber called bottle rubber,
make use of the hard stones of the fruit as fuel for smoking and
drying the successive layers of milky juice as it is applied to
the mold upon which the bottles are formed. The outer husk, also,
yields a kind of saline flour used for seasoning their food.
282. MELALEUCA MINOR.--A native of Australia and the islands of the
Indian Ocean. The leaves, being fermented, are distilled, and
yield an oil known as cajuput or cajeput oil, which is green, and
has a strong aromatic odor. It is valuable as an antispasmodic
and stimulant, and at one time had a great reputation as a cure
for cholera. In China the leaves are used as a tonic in the form
of decoction.
283. MELICOCCA BIJUGA.--This sapindaceous tree is plentiful in tropical
America and the West Indies, and is known as the Genip tree. It
produces numerous green egg-shaped fruits, an inch in length,
possessing an agreeable vinous and somewhat aromatic flavor,
called honey berries or bullace plums. The wood of the tree is
hard and heavy.
284. MELOCACTUS COMMUNIS.--Commonly called the Turk's Cap cactus, from
the flowering portion on the top of the plant being of a
cylindrical form and red color, like a fez cap. Notwithstanding
that they grow in the most dry sterile places, they contain a
considerable quantity of moisture, which is well known to mules,
who resort to them when very thirsty, first removing the prickles
with their feet.
285. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM CRYSTALLINUM.--The ice plant, so called in
consequence of every part of the plant being covered with small
watery pustules, which glisten in the sun like fragments of ice.
Large quantities of this plant are collected in the Canaries and
burned, the ashes being sent to Spain for the use of glass makers.
_M. edule_ is called the Hottentot's fig, its fruit being about
the size of a small fig, and having a pleasant, acid taste when
ripe. _M. tortuosum_ possesses narcotic properties, and is chewed
by the Hottentots to induce intoxication. The fruits possess
hygrometric properties, the dried, shriveled, capsules swelling
out and opening so as to allow of the escape of the seeds when
moistened by rain, which at the same time fits the soil for their
germination.
286. MIKANIA GUACO.--A composite plant which has gained some notoriety
as the supposed Cundurango, the cancer-curing bark. It has long
been supposed to supply a powerful antidote for the bite of
venomous serpents.
287. MIMUSOPS BALATA.--The Bully tree. This sapotaceous plant attains a
great size in Guiana and affords a dense, close-grained, valuable
timber. Its small fruits, about the size of coffee berries, are
delicious when ripe. The flowers also yield a perfume when
distilled in water, and oil is expressed from the seeds.
288. MIMUSOPS ELENGI.--A native of Ceylon, where its hard, heavy,
durable timber is used for building purposes. The seed also
affords a great amount of oil.
289. MONODORA GRANDIFLORA.--An African plant belonging to the Anonaceæ.
It produces large fruit, which contains a large quantity of seeds
about the size of the Scarlet-Runner bean. They are aromatic and
impart to the fruit the odor and flavor of nutmeg; hence they are
also known as calabash nutmegs.
290. MONSTERA DELICIOSA.--This is a native of southern Mexico and
yields a delicious fruit with luscious pineapple flavor. The outer
skin of the fruit, if eaten, causes a stinging sensation in the
mouth. This is easily removed when the fruit is ripe. The leaves
are singularly perforated with holes at irregular intervals, from
natural causes not sufficiently explained. In Trinidad the plant
is called the Ceriman.
291. MORINGA PTERYGOSPERMA.--A native of the East Indies, where it
bears the name of horse-radish tree. The seeds are called ben nuts
and supply a fluid oil, highly prized by watchmakers, called oil
of ben. The root is pungent and stimulant and tastes like
horse-radish.
292. MORONOBEA COCCINEA.--The hog gum tree, which attains the height of
100 feet. A fluid juice exudes from incisions in the trunk and
hardens into a yellow resin. It is said the hogs in Jamaica when
wounded rub the injured part against the tree so as to cover it
with the gum, which possesses vulnerary properties; hence its
name. The resin has been employed as a substitute for copaiba
balsam, and plasters are made of it.
293. MUCUNA PRURIENS.--A tall climbing plant of the West Indies and
other warm climates. It is called the cowage, or cow-itch, on
account of the seed pods being covered with short brittle hairs,
the points of which are finely serrated, causing an unbearable
itching when applied to the skin, which is relieved by rubbing the
part with oil. It is employed as a vermifuge. In East Africa it is
called Kitedzi. The sea beans found on the coast of Florida are
the seeds of _Mucuna altissima_. In Cuba these are called bulls'
eyes.
294. MURRAYA EXOTICA.--A Chinese plant of the orange family. The fruit
is succulent, and the white flowers are very fragrant. They are
used in perfumery.
295. MUSA CAVENDISHII.--This is a valuable dwarf species of the banana
from southern China. It bears a large truss of fine fruit, and is
cultivated to some extent in Florida, where it endures more cold
than the West India species and fruits more abundantly.
296. MUSA ENSETE.--This Abyssinian species forms large foliage of
striking beauty. The food is dry and uneatable; but the base of
the flower stalk is eaten by the natives.
297. MUSA SAPIENTUM.--The banana plant. This has been cultivated and
used as food in tropical countries from very remote times, and
furnishes enormous quantities of nutritious food, and serves as a
staple support to a large number of the human race. The expressed
juice is in some countries made into a fermented liquor and the
young shoots eaten as a vegetable.
298. MUSA TEXTILIS.--This furnishes the fiber known as manilla hemp,
and is cultivated in the Philippine Islands for this product. The
finer kinds of the fiber are woven into beautiful shawls and the
coarser manufactured into cordage for ships. The fiber is obtained
from the leaf-stalks.
299. MUSSÆNDA FRONDOSA.--This cinchonaceous plant is a native of
Ceylon. The bark and leaves are esteemed as tonic and febrifuges
in the Mauritius, where they are known as wild cinchona. The
leaves and flowers are also used as expectorants, and the juice of
the fruit and leaves is used as an eyewash.
300. MYRISTICA MOSCHATA.--The nutmeg tree. The seed of this plant is
the nutmeg of commerce, and mace is the seed cover of the same.
When the nuts are gathered they are dried and the outer shell of
the seed removed. The mace is also dried in the sun and assumes a
golden yellow color. The most esteemed nutmegs come from Penang.
At one time the nutmeg culture was monopolized by the Dutch, who
were in the habit of burning them when the crop was too abundant,
in order to keep up high prices.
301. MYROSPERMUM PERUIFERUM.--This plant yields the drug known as
balsam of Peru, which is procured by making incisions in the bark,
into which cotton rags are thrust; a fire is then made round the
tree to liquefy the balsam. The balsam is collected by boiling the
saturated rags in water. It is a thick, treacly looking liquid,
with fragrant aromatic smell and taste, and is not used so much in
medicine as it formerly was.
302. MYROSPERMUM TOLUIFERUM.--A South American tree, also called
Myroxylon, which yields the resinous drug called balsam of Tolu.
This substance is fragrant, having a warm, sweetish taste, and
burns with an agreeable odor. It is used in perfumery and in the
manufacture of pastilles, also for flavoring confectionery, as in
Tolu lozenges.
303. MYRTUS COMMUNIS--The common myrtle. This plant is supposed to be a
native of western Asia, but now grows abundantly in Italy, Spain,
and the south of France. Among the ancients the myrtle was held
sacred to Venus and was a plant of considerable importance,
wreaths of it being worn by the victors of the Olympic games and
other honored personages. Various parts of the plant were used in
medicine, in cookery, and by the Tuscans in the preparation of
myrtle wine, called _myrtidanum_. It is still used in perfumery,
and a highly perfumed distillation is made from the flowers. The
fruits are very aromatic and sweet, and are eaten fresh or dried
and used as a condiment.
304. NANDINA DOMESTICA.--A shrub belonging to the family of berberries.
It is a native of China and Japan, where it is extensively
cultivated for its fruits. It is there known as Nandin.
305. NAUCLEA GAMBIR.--A native of the Malayan Islands, which yields the
Gambir, or Terra Japonica of commerce. This is prepared by boiling
the leaves in water until the decoction thickens, when it is
poured into molds, where it remains until it acquires the
consistency of clay; it is then cut into cubes and thoroughly
dried. It is used as a masticatory in combination with the areca
nut and betel leaf, and also for tanning purposes.
306. NECTANDRA LEUCANTHA.--The greenheart, or bibiru tree of British
Guiana, furnishing bibiru bark, which is used medicinally as a
tonic and febrifuge, its properties being due to the presence of
an uncrystallizable alkaloid, also found in the seeds. The seeds
are also remarkable for containing upwards of 50 per cent of
starch, which is made into a kind of bread by the natives. The
timber of this tree is extensively employed in shipbuilding, its
great strength and durability rendering it peculiarly well suited
for this purpose.
307. NEPENTHES DISTILLATORIA.--This pitcher plant is a native of
Ceylon. The pitchers are partly filled with water before they
open; hence it was supposed to be produced by some distilling
process. In Ceylon the old, tough, flexible stems are used as
willows.
308. NEPHELIUM LITCHI.--This sapindaceous tree produces one of the
valued indigenous fruits of China. There are several varieties;
the fruit is round, about an inch and a half in diameter, with a
reddish-colored, thin, brittle shell. When fresh they are filled
with a sweet, white, transparent, jelly-like pulp. The Chinese are
very fond of these fruits and consume large quantities of them,
both in the fresh state and when dried and preserved.
309. NERIUM OLEANDER.--This is a well-known plant, often seen in
cultivation, and seemingly a favorite with many. It belongs to a
poisonous family and is a dangerous poison. A decoction of its
leaves forms a wash, employed in the south of Europe to destroy
vermin; and its powdered wood and bark constitute the basis of an
efficacious rat-poison. Children have died from eating the
flowers. A party of soldiers in Spain, having meat to roast in
camp, procured spits and skewers of the tree, which there attains
a large size. The wood having been stripped of its bark, and
brought in contact with the meat, was productive of fatal
consequences, for seven men died out of the twelve who partook of
the meat and the other five were for some time dangerously ill.
310. NOTELÆA LIGUSTRINA.--The Tasmanian iron wood tree. It is of medium
growth and furnishes wood that is extremely hard and dense, and
used for making sheaves for ships' blocks, and for other articles
that require to be of great strength. The plant belongs to the
olive family.
311. OCHROMA LAGOPUS.--A tree that grows about 40 feet high, along the
seashores in the West Indies and Central America, and known as the
cork wood. The wood is soft, spongy, and exceedingly light, and is
used as a substitute for cork, both in stopping bottles and as
floats for fishing nets. It is also known as Balsa.
312. ŒNOCARPUS BATAVA.--A South American palm, which yields a colorless,
sweet-tasted oil, used in Para for adulterating olive oil, being
nearly as good for this purpose as peanut oil, so largely used in
Europe. A palatable but slightly aperient beverage is prepared by
triturating the fruits in water, and adding sugar and mandiocca
flour.
313. OLEA EUROPÆA.--The European olive, which is popularly supposed to
furnish _all_ the olive oil of commerce. It is a plant of slow
growth and of as slow decay. It is considered probable that trees
at present existing in the Vale of Gethsemane are those which
existed at the commencement of the Christian era. The oil is
derived from the flesh of the fruit, and is pressed out of the
bruised pulp; inferior kinds are from second and third pressings.
The best salad oil is from Leghorn, and is sent in flasks
surrounded by rush-work. Gallipoli oil is transported in casks,
and Lucca in jars. The pickling olives are the unripe fruits
deprived of a portion of their bitterness by soaking in water in
which lime and wood ashes are sometimes added, and then bottled in
salt and water with aromatics.
314. OPHIOCARYON PARADOXUM.--The snake nut tree of Guiana, so called on
account of the curious form of the embryo of the seed, which is
spirally twisted, so as to closely resemble a coiled-up
blacksnake. The fruits are as large as those of the black walnut,
and although they are not known to possess any medical properties,
their singular snake-like form has induced the Indians to employ
them as an antidote to the poison of venomous snakes. The plant
belongs to the order of _Sapindaceæ_.
315. OPHIORRHIZA MUNGOS.--A plant belonging to the cinchona family, the
roots of which are reputed to cure snake bites. They are intensely
bitter, and from this circumstance they are called earth-galls by
the Malays.
316. OPHIOXYLON SERPENTINUM.--A native of the East Indies, where the
roots are used in medicine as a febrifuge and alexipharmic.
317. OPUNTIA COCHINELLIFERA.--A native of Mexico, where it is largely
cultivated in what are called the Nopal plantations for the
breeding of the cochineal insect. This plant and others are also
grown for a similar purpose in the Canary Islands and Madeira.
Some of these plantations contain fifty thousand plants. Cochineal
forms the finest carmine scarlet dye, and at least there are 2,000
tons of it produced yearly, in value worth $2,000 per ton.
318. OPUNTIA TUNA.--This plant is a native of Mexico and South America
generally. It reaches a height of 15 to 20 feet and bears
reddish-colored flowers, followed by pear-shaped fleshy fruits 2
or 3 inches long, and of a rich carmine color when ripe. It is
cultivated for rearing the cochineal insect. The fruits are sweet
and juicy; sugar has been made from them. The juice is used as a
water-color and for coloring confectionery.
319. OREODAPHNE CALIFORNICA.--The mountain laurel, or spice bush, of
California. When bruised it emits a strong, spicy odor, and the
Spanish Americans use the leaves as a condiment.
320. OREODOXA OLERACEA.--The West Indian cabbage palm, which sometimes
attains the height of 170 feet, with a straight cylindrical trunk.
The semicylindrical portions of the leaf-stalk are formed into
cradles for children, or made into splints for fractures. Their
inside skin, peeled off while green, and dried, looks like vellum,
and can be written upon. The heart of young leaves, or cabbage, is
boiled as a vegetable or pickled, and the pith affords sago. Oil
is obtained from the fruit.
321. ORMOSIA DASYCARPA.--This is the West Indian bead tree, or necklace
tree, the seeds of which are roundish, beautifully polished, and
of a bright scarlet color, with a black spot at one end resembling
beads, for which they are substitutes, being made into necklaces,
bracelets, or mounted in silver for studs and buttons. It is a
leguminous plant.
322. OSMANTHUS FRAGRANS.--This plant has long been cultivated as _Olea
fragrans_. The flowers have a fine fragrance, and are used by the
Chinese to perfume tea. It appears that they consider the leaves
also valuable, for they are frequently found in what is expected
to be genuine tea.
323. PACHIRA ALBA.--A South American tree the inner bark of which
furnishes a strong useful fiber, employed in the manufacture of
ropes and various kinds of cordage. The petals of the flowers are
covered with a soft silky down which is used for stuffing cushions
and pillows.
324. PANDANUS UTILIS.--The screw pine of the Mauritius, where it is
largely cultivated for its leaves, which are manufactured into
bags or sacks for the exportation of sugar. They are also used for
making other domestic vessels and for tying purposes.
325. PAPPEA CAPENSIS.--A small tree of the soapberry or sapindaceous
family, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, where the fruit is
known as the wild plum, from the pulp of which a vinous beverage
and excellent vinegar are prepared, and an eatable, though
slightly purgative, oil is extracted from the seeds. The oil is
also strongly recommended for baldness and scalp affections.
326. PAPYRUS ANTIQUORUM.--The paper-reed of Asia, which yielded the
substances used as paper by the ancient Egyptians. The underground
root-stocks spread horizontally under the muddy soil, continuing
to throw up stems as they creep along. The paper was made from
thin slices, cut vertically from the apex to the base of the stem,
between its surface and center. The slices were placed side by
side, according to the size required, and then, after being wetted
and beaten with a wooden instrument until smooth, were pressed and
dried in the sun.
327. PARITIUM ELATUM.--The mountain mahoe, a malvaceous plant, that
furnishes the beautiful lace-like bark called Cuba bast, imported
by nurserymen for tying their plants. It was at one time only seen
as employed in tying together bundles of genuine Havana cigars. It
forms a tree 40 feet or more in height, and yields a greenish-blue
timber, highly prized by cabinet-makers.
328. PARKIA AFRICANA.--The African locust tree, producing seeds which
the natives of Soudan roast, and then bruise and allow to ferment
in water until they become putrid, when they are carefully washed,
pounded into powder, and made into cakes, which are said to be
excellent, though having a very unpleasant smell. The pulp
surrounding the seeds is made into a sweet farinaceous
preparation.
329. PARKINSONIA ACULEATA.--This leguminous plant is called Jerusalem
Thorn. Although a native of Southern Texas and Mexico, it is found
in many tropical countries, and is frequently used for making
hedges. Indians in Mexico employ it as a febrifuge and sudorific
and also as a remedy for epilepsy.
330. PARMENTIERA CEREIFERA.--In the Isthmus of Panama this plant is
termed the Candle tree, because its fruits, often 4 feet long,
look like yellow candles suspended from the branches. They have a
peculiar, apple-like smell, and cattle that partake of the leaves
or fruit have the smell communicated to the beef if killed
immediately.
331. PASSIFLORA QUADRANGULARIS.--The fruit of this plant is the
Granadilla of the tropics. The pulp has an agreeable though rather
mawkish taste. The root is said to possess narcotic properties,
and is used in the Mauritius as an emetic.
332. PAULLINIA SORBILIS.--The seeds of this climbing sapindaceous plant
furnish the famous guarana of the Amazon and its principal
tributaries. The ripe seeds, when thoroughly dried, are pounded
into a fine powder, which made into dough with water, is formed
into cylindrical rolls, from 5 to 8 inches long, becoming very
hard when dry. It is used as a beverage, which is prepared by
grating about half a teaspoonful of one of the cakes into about a
teacup of water. It is much used by Brazilian miners, and is
considered a preventive of all manner of diseases. It is also used
by travelers, who supply themselves with it previous to
undertaking lengthy or fatiguing journeys. Its active principle is
identical with theine, of which it contains a larger quantity than
exists in any other known plant, being more than double that
contained in the best black tea.
333. PAVETTA BORBONICA.--This belongs to the quinine family. The roots
are bitter, and are employed as a purgative; the leaves are also
used medicinally.
334. PEDILANTHUS TITHYMALOIDES.--This euphorbiaceous plant has an
acrid, milky, bitter juice; the root is emetic, and the dried
branches are used medicinally.
335. PERESKIA ACULEATA.--The Barbadoes gooseberry, which belongs to the
family _Cactaceæ_. It grows about 15 feet in height, and produces
yellow-colored, eatable, and pleasant-tasted fruit, which is used
in the West Indies for making preserves.
336. PERSEA GRATISSIMA.--The avocado or alligator pear, a common tree
in the West Indies. The fruits are pear-shaped, covered with a
brownish-green or purple skin. They are highly esteemed where
grown, but strangers do not relish them. They contain a large
quantity of firm pulp, possessing a buttery or marrow-like taste,
and are frequently called vegetable marrow. They are usually eaten
with spice, lime-juice, pepper, and salt. An abundance of oil, for
burning and for soap-making, may be obtained from the pulp. The
seeds yield a deep, indelible black juice, which is used for
marking linen.
337. PHŒNIX DACTYLIFERA.--The date palm, very extensively grown for its
fruit, which affords the principal food for a large portion of the
inhabitants of Africa, Asia, and southern Europe, and likewise of
the various domestic animals--dogs, horses, and camels being alike
partial to it. The tree attains to a great age, and bears annually
for two hundred years. The huts of the poorer classes are
constructed of the leaves: the fiber surrounding the bases of
their stalks is used for making ropes and coarse cloth; the stalks
are used for the manufacture of baskets, brooms, crates, walking
sticks, etc., and the wood for building substantial houses; the
heart of young leaves is eaten as a vegetable; the sap affords an
intoxicating beverage. It may be further mentioned that the date
was, probably, the palm which supplied the "branches of palm
trees" mentioned by St. John (xii, 13) as having been carried by
the people who went to meet Christ on his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, and from which Palm Sunday takes its name.
338. PHORMIUM TENAX.--This plant is called New Zealand flax, on account
of the leaves containing a large quantity of strong, useful fiber,
which is used by the natives of that country for making strings,
ropes, and articles of clothing. The plant could be grown in this
climate, and would no doubt be largely cultivated if some
efficient mode of separating the fiber could be discovered.
339. PHOTINIA JAPONICA.--The Japanese Medlar, or Chinese Lo-quat. It
bears a small oval fruit of an orange color when ripe, having a
pleasant subacid flavor. It stands ordinary winters in this
climate, and forms a fine evergreen, medium-sized tree.
340. PHYSOSTIGMA VENENOSUM.--A strong leguminous plant, the seeds of
which are highly poisonous, and are employed by the natives of Old
Calabar as an ordeal. Persons suspected of witchcraft or other
crimes are compelled to eat them until they vomit or die, the
former being regarded as proof of innocence, and the latter of
guilt. Recently the seeds have been found to act powerfully in
diseases of the eye.
341. PHYTELEPHAS MACROCARPA.--The vegetable ivory plant, a native of
the northern parts of South America. The fruit consists of a
collection of six or seven drupes; each contains from six to nine
seeds, the vegetable ivory of commerce. The seeds at first contain
a clear, insipid liquid; afterwards it becomes milky and sweet,
and changes by degrees until it becomes hard as ivory. Animals eat
the fruit in its young green state; a sweet oily pulp incloses the
seeds, and is collected and sold in the markets under the name of
Pipa de Jagua. Vegetable ivory may be distinguished from animal
ivory by means of sulphuric acid, which gives a bright red color
with the vegetable ivory, but none with the animal ivory.
342. PICRASMA EXCELSA.--This yields the bitter wood known as Jamaica
Quassia. The tree is common in Jamaica, where it attains the
height of 50 feet. The wood is of a whitish or yellow color, and
has an intensely bitter taste. Although it is used as a medicine
in cases of weak digestion, it acts as a narcotic poison on some
animals, and the tincture is used as fly poison. Cups made of this
wood, when filled with water and allowed to remain for some time,
will impart tonic properties to the water.
343. PINCKNEYA PUBENS.--This cinchonaceous plant is a native of the
Southern States and has a reputation as an antiperiodic. It is
stated that incomplete examinations have detected _cinchonine_ in
the bark. It has been used successfully as a substitute for
quinine. A thorough examination of this plant seems desirable so
that its exact medical value may be ascertained.
344. PIPER BETEL.--This plant belongs to the _Piperaceæ_. Immense
quantities of the leaves of this plant are chewed by the Malays.
It tinges the saliva a bright red and acts as a powerful stimulant
to the digestive organs and salivary glands; when swallowed it
causes giddiness and other unpleasant symptoms in persons
unaccustomed to its use.
345. PIPER NIGRUM.--This twining shrub yields the pepper of commerce.
It is cultivated in the East and West Indies, Java, etc., the
Malabar being held in the highest esteem. The fruit when ripe is
of a red color, but it is gathered before being fully ripe and
dried in the sun, when it becomes black and shriveled. White
pepper is the same fruit with the skin removed. When analyzed,
pepper is found to contain a hot acrid resin and a volatile oil,
as well as a crystalline substance called _piperin_, which has
been recommended as a substitute for quinine.
346. PISTACIA LENTISCUS.--The mastic tree, a native of southern Europe,
northern Africa, and western Asia. Mastic is the resin of the tree
and is obtained by making transverse incisions in the bark, from
which it exudes in drops and hardens into small semitransparent
tears. It is consumed in large quantities by the Turks for chewing
to strengthen the gums and sweeten the breath. It is also used for
varnishing.
347. PISTACIA TEREBINTHUS.--The Cyprus turpentine tree. The turpentine
flows from incisions made in the trunk and soon becomes thick and
tenacious, and ultimately hardens. Galls gathered from this tree
are used for tanning purposes, one of the varieties of morocco
leather being tanned with them.
348. PISTACIA VERA.--The pistacia tree, which yields the eatable
pistachio nuts. It is a native of western Asia. The nuts are
greatly eaten by the Turks and Greeks, as well as in the south of
Europe, either simply dried like almonds or made into articles of
confectionery.
349. PITHECOLOBIUM SAMAN.--This leguminous plant yields eatable pods,
which are fed to cattle in Brazil. Some Mexican species produce
pods that are boiled and eaten, and certain portions contain
saponaceous properties. The pods are sometimes called Manila
tamarinds. The leaves of this tree fold closely up at night, so
that they do not prevent the radiation of heat from the surface of
the ground, and dew is therefore deposited underneath its
branches. The grass on the surface of the ground underneath this
tree being thus wet with dew, while that under other trees is
found to be dry, has given it the name of rain tree, under the
supposition that the leaves dropped water during the night.
350. PITTOSPORUM UNDULATUM.--A plant from New Zealand, which reaches a
considerable size, and furnishes a wood similar to boxwood. The
flowers are very fragrant.
351. PLAGIANTHUS BETULINUS.--The inner bark of the young branches of
this plant yields a very fine fiber, sometimes called New Zealand
cotton, though more like flax than cotton; it is the Akaroa of the
New Zealanders. In Tasmania it bears the name of Currajong. Good
cordage and twine for fishing nets are made from this fiber. A
superior paper pulp is prepared from the wood; it is also employed
in making handles to baskets, rims for sieves, and hoops for
barrels.
352. PLATONIA INSIGNIS.--A Brazilian tree which bears a fruit known in
that country as Pacoury-uva. The pulp of this fruit is semiacid,
very delicious, and is employed in making preserves. The seeds
embedded in this pulp have the flavor of almonds.
353. PLUMBAGO SCANDENS.--The root of this plant is called Herbe du
Diable in San Domingo; it is acrid in the highest degree, and is a
most energetic blistering agent when fresh.
354. PLUMERIA ALBA.--A South American plant. The flowers are used in
perfumery, and furnish the scent known as Frangipane or
Frangipani. In Jamaica the plant is known as red jasmine.
355. POGOSTEMON PATCHOULY.--This plant affords the celebrated patchouli
perfume. The peculiar odor of patchouli is disagreeable to some,
but is very popular with many persons. The odoriferous part of the
plant is the leaves and young tops, which yield a volatile oil by
distillation, from which an essence is prepared; satchels of
patchouli are made of coarsely powdered leaves. Genuine Indian
shawls and Indian ink were formerly distinguished by their odor of
this perfume, but the test does not now hold good. Ill effects,
such as loss of sleep, nervous attacks, etc., have been ascribed
to its extensive use.
356. PONGAMIA GLABRA.--Some years ago this tree was recommended as
suitable for avenue-planting in the south of France. In India an
oil called poonga is expressed from the seeds, which is much used
for mixing with lamp oil. It is of a deep yellow color, and is
fluid at temperatures above 60° F., but below that it becomes
solid.
357. PORTLANDIA GRANDIFLORA.--This plant belongs to the cinchonaceous
family, and is said to possess properties similar to those of the
true cinchona. The bark is exceedingly bitter.
358. PSIDIUM CATTLEYANUM.--This is the purple guava from China. The
fruits are filled with juicy, pale flesh, of a very agreeable
acid-sweet flavor.
359. PSIDIUM PYRIFERUM.--The West Indian guava, a well-known fruit in
the tropics, but only known here in the shape of guava jelly. The
wood of the tree has a fine, close grain, and has been
experimented with as a substitute for boxwood for engraving
purposes, but it is too soft to stand the pressure of printing.
360. PSYCHOTRIA LEUCANTHA.--A plant belonging to the cinchona family.
Emetic properties are assigned to the roots, which are also used
in dyeing. Native of Peru.
361. PTEROCARPUS MARSUPIUM.--This tree affords gum-kino, which is
obtained by making incisions in the bark, from which the juice
exudes and hardens into a brittle mass, easily broken into small
angular, shining fragments of a bright ruby color. It is highly
astringent. The wood is hard and valuable for manufacturing
purposes.
362. PUNICA GRANATUM.--The pomegranate, a native of northern Africa and
western Asia. The fruit is valued in warm countries on account of
its delicious cooling and refreshing pulp. Numerous varieties are
grown, some being sweet and vinous, and others acid or of a
bitter, stringent taste; the color also varies from light to dark
red. The bark of the root abounds in a peculiar principle called
_punicin_. This bark appears to have been known to the ancients,
and used by them as a vermifuge, and is still used in Hindostan as
a specific against tapeworm. The rind of the fruit of the bitter
varieties contains a large amount of tannin, and is used for
tanning morocco leather. The flowers yield a red dye.
363. QUASSIA AMARA.--The wood of this plant furnishes Surinam quassia.
It is destitute of smell, but has an intensely bitter taste, and
is used as a tonic. The root has also reputed medicinal value, as
also have the flowers.
364. QUILLAJA SAPONARIA.--The Quillai or Cully of the Chilians. Its
bark is called soap-bark, and is rough and dark-colored
externally, but internally consists of numerous regular whitish or
yellowish layers, and contains a large quantity of carbonate of
lime and other mineral matters. It is also rich in _saponine_, and
is used for washing clothes; 2 ounces of the bark is sufficient to
wash a dress. It also removes all spots or stains, and imparts a
fine luster to wool; when powdered and rubbed between the hands in
water, it makes a foam like soap. It is to be found in commerce.
365. RANDIA ACULEATA.--A small tree native of the West Indies, also
found in southern Florida. In the West Indies the fruit is used
for producing a blue dye, and medicinal properties are assigned to
the bark.
366. RAPHIA TÆDIGERA.--The Jupati palm. The leaf-stalks of this plant
are used by the natives of the Amazon for a variety of purposes,
such as constructing inside walls, making boxes and baskets, etc.
_R. vinifera_, the Bamboo palm, is similarly used by the Africans,
who also make a very pliable cloth of the undeveloped leaves. Palm
wine is one of the products of the genus.
367. RAVENALA MADAGASCARIENSIS.--This plant is called the Traveler's
tree, probably on account of the water which is stored up in the
large cup-like sheaths of the leaf-stalks, and which is sought for
by travelers to allay their thirst. The broad leaves are used in
Madagascar as thatch to cover their houses. The seeds are edible,
and the blue, pulpy aril surrounding them yields an essential oil.
368. RHAPIS FLABELLIFORMIS.--The ground rattan palm. This is supposed
to yield the walking-canes known as rattan, which is doubted. It
is a native of southern China, and is also found in Japan, where
it is known by the name of Kwanwortsik.
369. RHIZOPHORA MANGLE.--This plant is known as the mangrove, possibly
because no man can live in the swampy groves that are covered with
it in tropical countries. The seeds germinate, or form roots
before they quit the parent tree, and drop into the mud as young
trees. The old plants send out aerial roots into the water, upon
which the mollusca adhere, and as the tide recedes they are seen
clinging to the shoots, verifying the statements of old travelers
that they had seen oysters growing on trees. All parts of this
tree contain tannin. The bark yields dyes, and in the West Indies
the leaves are used for poulticing wounds. The fruit is edible; a
coarse, brittle salt is extracted from the roots, and in the
Philippines the bark is used as a febrifuge.
370. ROTTLERA TINCTORIA.--This plant belongs to the order
_Euphorbiaceæ_, and reaches the size of a small tree in the Indian
Archipelago and southern Australia. From the surface of the
trilobed capsules of this plant, which are about the size of peas,
a red, mealy powder is obtained, well known in India as kamala,
and which is used by Hindoo silk-dyers, who obtain from it a deep,
bright, durable orange or flame color of great beauty. This is
obtained by boiling the powder in a solution of carbonate of soda.
When the capsules are ripe the red powder is brushed off and
collected for sale, no other preparation being necessary to
preserve it. It is also used medicinally as an anthelmintic and
has been successfully used in cases of tapeworm. A solution
removes freckles and pustules and eruptions on the skin.
371. RUELLIA INDIGOTICA.--This small bush is extensively cultivated in
China for the preparation of a blue coloring-matter of the nature
of indigo. The pigment is prepared from the entire plant by a
process similar to that employed in procuring the common indigo.
It is sold in China in a pasty state. The water in which the plant
is steeped is mixed with lime and rapidly agitated, when the
coloring deposits at the bottom of the vessel.
372. SABAL ADANSONII.--This dwarf palm is a native of the Southern
States. The leaves are made into fans, and the soft interior of
the stem is edible.
373. SABAL UMBRACULIFERA.--This is a West Indian palm; the leaves are
used for various purposes, such as making mats, huts, etc.
374. SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM.--The sugar cane. Where the sugar cane was
first cultivated is unknown, but it is supposed to have been in
the East Indies, for the Venetians imported it from thence by the
Red Sea prior to the year 1148. It is supposed to have been
introduced into the islands of Sicily, Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus
by the Saracens, as abundance of sugar was made in these islands
previous to the discovery of the West Indies in 1492 by the
Spaniards, and the East Indies and Brazil by the Portuguese in
1497 and 1560. It was cultivated afterwards in Spain, in Valentia,
Granada, and Murcia by the Moors. In the fifteenth century it was
introduced into the Canary Islands by the Spaniards and to Madeira
by the Portuguese, and thence to the West India Islands and to
Brazil. The Dutch began to make sugar in the island of St. Thomas
in the year 1610 and in Jamaica in 1644. Its culture has since
become general in warm climates and its use universal.
375. SAGUERUS SACCHARIFER.--The arenga palm, which is of great value to
the Malays. The black horsehair like fiber surrounding its
leaf-stalks is made into cordage; a large amount of toddy or palm
wine is obtained by cutting off the flower spikes, which, when
inspissated, affords sugar, and when fermented a capital vinegar.
Considerable quantities of inferior sago and several other
products of minor importance are derived from this palm.
376. SAGUS RUMPHII.--This palm produces the sago of commerce, which is
prepared from the soft inner portion of the trunk. It is obtained
by cutting the trunk into small pieces, which are split and the
soft substance scooped out and pounded in water till the starchy
substance separates and settles. This is sago meal; but before
being exported it is made into what is termed pearl sago. This is
a Chinese process, principally carried on at Singapore. The meal
is washed, strained, and spread out to dry; it is then broken up,
pounded, and sifted until it is of a regular size. Small
quantities being then placed in bags, these are shaken about until
it becomes granulated or pearled.
377. SALVADORA PERSICA.--This is supposed to be the plant that produced
the mustard seed spoken of in the Scriptures.
378. SANDORICUM INDICUM.--A tropical tree, sometimes called the Indian
sandal tree, which produces a fruit like an apple, of agreeable
acid flavor. The root of the tree has some medicinal value.
379. SANSEVIERA GUINEENSIS.--Called the African bowstring hemp, from
the fibers of the leaves being used for bowstrings.
380. SANTALUM ALBUM.--This tree yields the true sandalwood of India.
This fragrant wood is in two colors, procured from the same tree;
the yellow-colored wood is from the heart and the white-colored
from the exterior, the latter not so fragrant. The Chinese
manufacture it into musical instruments, small cabinets, boxes,
and similar articles, which are insect proof. From shavings of the
wood an essential oil is distilled, which is used in perfumery.
381. SAPINDUS SAPONARIA.--The soapberry tree. The fruit of this plant
is about the size of a large gooseberry, the outer covering or
shell of which contains a saponaceous principle in sufficient
abundance to produce a lather with water and is used as a
substitute for soap. The seeds are hard, black, and round, and are
used for making rosaries and necklaces, and at one time were
covered for buttons. Oil is also extracted from the seeds and is
known as soap oil.
382. SAPIUM INDICUM.--A widely distributed Asiatic tree which yields an
acrid, milky juice, which, as also the leaves of the plant,
furnishes a kind of dye. The fruit in its green state is acid, and
is eaten as a condiment in Borneo.
383. SAPOTA ACHRAS.--The fruit of this plant is known in the West
Indies as the sapodilla plum. It is highly esteemed by the
inhabitants; the bark of the tree is astringent and febrifugal;
the seeds are aperient and diuretic.
384. SAPOTA MULLERI.--The bully or balata tree of British Guiana, which
furnishes a gum somewhat intermediate between India rubber and
gutta-percha, being nearly as elastic as the first without the
brittleness and friability of the latter, and requiring a high
temperature to melt or soften it.
385. SCHINUS MOLLE.--The root of this plant is used medicinally and the
resin that exudes from the tree is employed to astringe the gums.
The leaves are so filled with resinous fluid that when they are
immersed in water it is expelled with such violence as to have the
appearance of spontaneous motion in consequence of the recoil. The
fruits are of the size of pepper corns and are warm to the taste.
The pulp surrounding the seeds is made into a kind of beverage by
the Mexican Indians. The plant is sometimes called Mexican
pepper.
386. SCHOTIA SPECIOSA.--A small tree of South Africa called Boerboom at
the Cape of Good Hope. The seeds or beans are cooked and eaten as
food. The bark is used for tanning purposes and as an astringent
in medicine.
387. SEAFORTHIA ELEGANS.--This palm is a native of the northern part of
Australia, where it is utilized by the natives. The seeds have a
granular fibrous rind, and are spotted and marked like a nutmeg.
388. SELAGINELLA LEPIDOPHYLLA.--This species of club moss is found in
southern California, and has remarkable hygrometric qualities. Its
natural growth is in circular roseate form, and fully expanded
when the air is moist, but rolling up like a ball when it becomes
dry. It remains green and acts in this peculiar manner for a long
time after being gathered. Of late years numbers have been
distributed throughout the country under the names of "Rose of
Jericho" and "Resurrection Plant." This is, however, quite
distinct from the true Rose of Jericho, _Anastatica
hierochuntica_, a native of the Mediterranean region, from Syria
to Algeria. This plant, when growing and in flower, has branches
spread rigidly, but when the seed ripens the leaves wither, and
the whole plant becomes dry, each little branch curling inward
until the plant appears like a small ball; it soon becomes
loosened from the soil, and is carried by the winds over the dry
plains, and is often blown into the sea, where it at once expands.
It retains this property of expanding when moistened for at least
ten years.
389. SEMECARPUS ANACARDIUM.--The marking nut tree of India. The thick,
fleshy receptacle bearing the fruit is of a yellow color when
ripe, and is roasted and eaten. The unripe fruit is employed in
making a kind of ink. The hard shell of the fruit is permeated by
a corrosive juice, which is used on external bruises and for
destroying warts. The juice, when mixed with quick-lime, is used
to mark cotton or linen with an indelible mark. When dry it forms
a dark varnish, and among other purposes it is employed, mixed
with pitch and tar, in the calking of ships. The seeds, called
Malacca beans, or marsh nuts, are eaten, and are said to stimulate
the mental powers, and especially the memory; and finally they
furnish an oil used in painting.
390. SERISSA FŒTIDA.--A cinchonaceous shrub, having strong astringent
properties. The roots are employed in cases of diarrhea, also in
ophthalmia and certain forms of ulcers. It is a native of Japan
and China.
391. SHOREA ROBUSTA.--This tree produces the Saul wood of India, which
has a very high reputation, and is extensively employed for all
engineering purposes where great strength and toughness are
requisite. It is stronger and much heavier than teak. An oil is
obtained from the seeds, and a resin similar to Dammar resin is
likewise obtained from the tree.
392. SIDA PULCHELLA.--A plant of the mallow family; the bark contains
fibrous tissues available for the manufacture of cordage. The root
of _S. acuta_ is esteemed by the Hindoos as a medicine, and
particularly as a remedy for snake bites. The light wood of these
species is used to make rocket sticks.
393. SIMABA CEDRON.--A native of New Grenada, where it attains the size
of a small tree, and bears a large fruit containing one seed; this
seed, which looks like a blanched almond, is known in commerce as
the cedron. As a remedy for snake bites it has been known from
time immemorial in New Grenada. It is mentioned in the books of
the seventeenth century. Recently it has obtained a reputation as
a febrifuge, but its value as an antidote to the bites of snakes
and scorpions is universally believed, and the inhabitants carry a
seed with them in all their journeyings; if they happen to be
bitten by any venomous reptile they scrape about two grains of the
seed in brandy or water and apply it to the wound, at the same
time taking a like dose internally. This neutralizes the most
dangerous poisons.
394. SIMARUBA OFFICINALIS.--This tree yields the drug known as Simaruba
bark, which is, strictly speaking, the rind of the root. It is a
bitter tonic. It is known in the West Indies as the mountain
damson.
395. SIPHONIA ELASTICA.--The South American rubber plant, from which a
great portion of the caoutchouc of commerce is obtained. There are
several species of siphonia which, equally with the above, furnish
the India rubber exported from Para. The caoutchouc exists in the
tree in the form of a thin, white milk, which exudes from
incisions made in the trunk, and is poured over molds, which were
formerly shaped like jars, bottles, or shoes, hence often called
bottle rubber. As it dries, the coatings of milky juice are
repeated until the required thickness is obtained, and the clay
mold removed. It belongs to the extensive family _Euphorbiaceæ_.
396. SMILAX MEDICA.--This plant yields _Mexican_ sarsaparilla, so
called to distinguish it from the many other kinds of this drug.
The plant is a climber, similar to the smilax of our woods.
397. SPONDIAS MOMBIN.--This yields an eatable fruit called hog plum in
the West Indies. The taste is said to be peculiar, and not very
agreeable to strangers. It is chiefly used to fatten swine. The
fruit is laxative, the leaves astringent, and the seeds possess
poisonous qualities. The flower buds are used as a sweetmeat with
sugar.
398. STRELITZIA REGINÆ.--A plant of the Musa or banana family. The
flowers are very beautiful for the genus. It is a native of the
Cape of Good Hope. The seeds are gathered and eaten by the
Kaffirs.
399. STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA.--This is a native of the Coromandel coast
and Cochin-China. It bears an orange-like fruit, containing seeds
that have an intensely bitter taste, owing to the presence of two
most energetic poisons, _strychnine_ and _brucine_. The pulp
surrounding the seeds is said to be harmless, and greedily eaten
by birds. The wood of the plant is hard and bitter, and possesses
similar properties to the seeds, but in a less degree. It is used
in India in intermittent fevers and in cases of snake bites. _S.
tiente_ is a Java shrub, the juice of which is used in poisoning
arrows. _S. toxifera_ yields a frightful poison called Ourari or
Wourari, employed by the natives of Guiana. This is considered to
be the most potent sedative in nature. Several species of
_Strychnos_ are considered infallible remedies for snake bites;
hence are known as snakewood. _S. pseudo-quina_, a native of
Brazil, yields Colpache bark, which is much used in that country
in cases of fever, and is considered equal to quinine in value. It
does not contain strychnine, and its fruits are edible. _S.
potatorum_ furnishes seeds known in India as clearing-nuts, on
account of their use in clearing muddy water. St. Ignatius beans
are supposed to be yielded by a species of Strychnos, from the
quantity of strychnine contained in the seeds.
400. SWIETENIA MAHAGONI.--This South American plant furnishes the
timber known in commerce as mahogany. The bark is considered a
febrifuge, and the seeds prepared with oil were used by the
ancient Aztecs as a cosmetic. The timber is well known, and much
used in the manufacture of furniture.
401. TACCA PINNATIFIDA.--This is sometimes called South Sea arrowroot.
The tubers contain a great amount of starch, which is obtained by
rasping them and macerating four or five days in water, when the
fecula separates in the same manner as sago. It is largely used as
an article of diet throughout the tropics, and is a favorite
ingredient for puddings and cakes.
402. TAMARINDUS INDICA.--The tamarind tree. There are two varieties of
this species. The East Indian variety has long pods, with six to
twelve seeds. The variety cultivated in the West Indies has
shorter pods, containing one to four seeds. Tamarinds owe their
grateful acidity to the presence of citric, tartaric, and other
vegetable acids. The pulp mixed with salt is used for a liniment
by the Creoles of the Mauritius. Every part of the plant has had
medicinal virtues ascribed to it. Fish pickled with tamarinds are
considered a great delicacy. It is said that the acid moisture
exhaled by the leaves injures the cloth of tents that remain under
them for any length of time. It is also considered unsafe to sleep
under the trees.
403. TANGHINIA VENENIFERA.--This plant is a native of Madagascar, and
of the family _Apocynaceæ_. Formerly, when the custom of trial by
ordeal was more prevalent than now, the seeds of this plant were
in great repute, and unlimited confidence was placed in the
poisonous seeds as a detector of guilt. The seeds were pounded,
and a small piece swallowed by each person to be tried; those in
whom it caused vomiting were allowed to escape, but when it was
retained in the stomach, it would quickly prove fatal, and their
guilt was thus held to be proven.
404. TASMANNIA AROMATICA.--The bark of this plant possesses aromatic
qualities, closely resembling Winter's bark. The small black
fruits are used as a substitute for pepper.
405. TECTONA GRANDIS.--The teak tree. Teak wood has been extensively
employed for shipbuilding in the construction of merchant vessels
and ships of war; its great strength and durability, the facility
with which it can be worked, and its freedom from injury by fungi,
rendering it peculiarly suitable for these purposes. It is a
native of the East India Islands, and belongs to the order
_Verbenaceæ_.
406. TERMINALIA CATAPPA.--The astringent fruits of this tropical plant
are employed for tanning and dyeing, and are sometimes met with in
commerce under the name of myrobalans, and used by calico printers
for the production of a permanent black. The seeds are like
almonds in shape and whiteness, but, although palatable, have a
peculiar flavor.
407. TETRANTHERA LAURIFOLIA.--This plant is widely dispersed over
tropical Asia and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Its
leaves and young branches abound in a viscid juice, and in
Cochin-China the natives bruise and macerate them until this
becomes glutinous, when it is used for mixing with plaster, to
thicken and render it more adhesive and durable. Its fruits yield
a solid fat, used for making candles, although it has a most
disagreeable odor.
408. THEA VIRIDIS.--This is the China tea plant, whose native country
is undetermined. All kinds and grades of the teas of commerce are
made from this species, although probably it has some varieties.
Black and green teas are the result of different modes of
preparation; very much of the green, however, is artificially
colored to suit the foreign trade. The finest teas do not reach
this country; they will not bear a sea voyage, and are used only
by the wealthy classes in China and Russia. The active principles
of the leaves are theine and a volatile oil, to which latter the
flavor and odor are due. So far as climate is concerned for the
existence of the tea plant in the United States, it will stand in
the open air without injury from Virginia southwards. A zero frost
will not kill it. But with regard to its production as a
profitable crop, the rainfall in no portion of the States is
sufficient to warrant any attempt to cultivate the plant for
commercial purposes. But this does not prevent its culture as a
domestic article, and many hundreds of families thus prepare all
the tea they require, from plants it may be from the pleasure
ground or lawn, where the plant forms one of the best ornaments.
409. THEOBROMA CACAO.--This plant produces the well-known cacao, or
chocolate, and is very extensively cultivated in South America and
the West India Islands. The fruit, which is about 8 to 10 inches
in length by 3 to 5 in breadth, contains between fifty and a
hundred seeds, and from these the cacao is prepared. As an article
of food it contains a large amount of nutritive matter, about 50
per cent being fat. It contains a peculiar principle, which is
called _theobromine_.
410. THEOPHRASTA JUSSIÆI.--A native of St. Domingo, where it is
sometimes called Le petit Coca. The fruit is succulent, and bread
is made from the seeds.
411. THESPESIA POPULNEA.--A tropical tree, belonging to the mallow
family. The inner bark of the young branches yields a tough fiber,
fit for cordage, and used in Demerara for making coffee bags, and
the finer pieces of it for cigar envelopes. The wood is considered
almost indestructible under water, and its hardness and durability
render it valuable for various purposes. The flower buds and
unripe fruits yield a viscid yellow juice, useful as a dye, and a
thick, deep, red-colored oil is expressed from the seeds.
412. THEVETIA NERIIFOLIA.--This shrubby plant is common in the West
Indies and in many parts of Central America. Its bark abounds in a
poisonous milky juice, and is said to possess powerful properties.
A clear, bright, yellow-colored oil, called Exile oil, is
obtained, by expression, from the seeds.
413. THRINAX ARGENTEA.--This beautiful palm is called the Silver Thatch
palm of Jamaica, and is said to yield the leaves so extensively
used in the manufacture of hats, baskets, and other articles. It
is also a native of Panama, where it is called the broom palm, its
leaves being there made into brooms.
414. TILLANDSIA ZEBRINA.--A South American plant of the pineapple
family; the bottle-like cavity at the base of the leaves will
sometimes contain a pint or more of water, and has frequently
furnished a grateful drink to thirsty travelers.
415. TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA.--A climbing plant, so tenacious of life that
when the stem is cut across or broken, a rootlet is speedily sent
down from above, which continues to grow until it reaches the
ground. A bitter principle, _calumbine_, pervades the plant. An
extract called galuncha is prepared from it, considered to be a
specific for the bites of poisonous insects and for ulcers. The
young shoots are used as emetics.
416. TRIPHASIA TRIFOLIATA.--A Chinese shrub, with fruit about the size
of hazelnuts, red-skinned, and of an agreeable sweet taste; when
green, they have a strong flavor of turpentine, and the pulp is
very sticky. They are also preserved whole in sirup, and are
sometimes called limeberries.
417. TRISTANIA NERIIFOLIA.--A myrtaceous plant from Australia, called
the turpentine tree, owing to its furnishing a fluid resembling
that product.
418. URCEOLA ELASTICA.--A plant belonging to the _Apocynaceæ_, a native
of the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, where its milky juice,
collected by making incisions in its soft, thick, rugged bark, or
by cutting the trunk into junks, forms one of the kinds of
caoutchouc called juitawan, but it is inferior to the South
American, chiefly owing to want of care in its preparation, the
milky juice being simply coagulated by mixing with salt water,
instead of being gradually inspissated in layers on a mold. The
fruit contains a pulp which is much eaten by the natives.
419. URENA LOBATA.--A malvaceous plant, possessing mucilaginous
properties, for which it is used medicinally. The bark affords an
abundance of fiber, resembling jute rather than flax or hemp.
420. UVARIA ODORATISSIMA.--An Indian plant which is supposed to yield
the essential oil called Ylang-Ylang, or Alan-gilan. This oil is
obtained by distillation from the flowers, and is highly esteemed
by perfumers, having an exquisite odor partaking of the jasmine
and lilac.
421. VANGUERIA EDULIS.--A cinchonaceous plant, the fruits of which are
eaten in Madagascar under the name of Voa-vanga. The leaves are
used in medicine.
422. VANILLA PLANIFOLIA.--The vanilla plant, which belongs to the
orchid family. The fruit is used by confectioners and others for
flavoring creams, liquors, and chocolates. There are several
species, but this gives the finest fruit. It is a climbing orchid,
and is allowed to climb on trees when cultivated for its fruit. In
Mexico, from whence is procured a large portion of the fruit, it
is cultivated in certain favorable localities near the Gulf coast,
where the climate is warm. Much of the value of the bean depends
upon the process of its preparation for the market. In Mexico,
where much care is given to this process, the pods are gathered
before they are fully ripe and placed in a heap, under protection
from the weather, until they begin to shrivel, when they are
submitted to a sweating process by wrapping them in blankets
inclosed in tight boxes; afterwards they are exposed to the sun.
They are then tied into bundles or small bales, which are first
wrapped in woolen blankets, then in a coating of banana leaves
first sprinkled with water, then placed in an oven heated up to
about 140° F. Here they remain for twenty-four to forty-eight
hours, according to the size of the pods, the largest requiring
the longest time. After this heating they are exposed to the sun
daily for fifty or sixty days, until they are thoroughly dried and
ready for the market.
423. VATERIA INDICA.--This plant yields a useful gum resin, called
Indian copal, piney varnish, white dammar, or gum anine. The resin
is procured by cutting a notch in the tree, so that the juice may
flow out and become hardened. It is used as a varnish for
pictures, carriages, etc. On the Malabar coast it is manufactured
into candles, which burn with a clear light and an agreeable
fragrance. The Portuguese employ this resin instead of incense.
Ornaments are fashioned from it under the name of amber. It is
also employed in medicine.
424. WEINMANNIA RACEMOSA.--A New Zealand tree called Towhia by the
natives of that country. Its bark is used for tanning purposes,
and as a red and brown dye, which give fast colors upon cotton
fabrics.
425. WRIGHTIA TINCTORIA.--The leaves of this plant furnish an inferior
kind of indigo. The wood is beautifully white, close-grained, and
ivory-like, and is much used for making Indian toys.
426. XANTHORRHŒA ARBOREA.--The grass gum tree of Australia, also called
black boy. This is a liliaceous plant, which produces a long
flower-stalk, bearing at the top an immense cylindrical
flower-spike, and when the short black stem is denuded of leaves,
the plants look very like black men holding spears. The leaves
afford good fodder for cattle, and the tender white center is used
as a vegetable. A fragrant resin, called acaroid resin, is
obtained from it.
427. XIMENIA AMERICANA.--A small tree, found in many warm regions;
among others in southern Florida. In Brazil it is called the
Native Plum on account of its small yellow fruits, which have a
subacid and somewhat astringent aromatic taste. The wood is
odoriferous and is used in the West Indies as a substitute for
sandalwood.
428. YUCCA ALŒFOLIA.--The yucca leaves afford a good fiber, and some
southern species are known as _bear's grass_. The root stems also
furnish a starchy matter, which has been rendered useful in the
manufacture of starch.
429. ZAMIA FURFURACEA.--This plant belongs to the order _Cycadaceæ_,
and is grown to some extent for the starchy matter contained in
the stem, which is collected and used as arrowroot; but it is not
the true arrowroot, that being produced by a species of _Maranta_.
430. ZAMIA INTEGRIFOLIA.--The coontie plant of Florida. The large
succulent roots afford a quantity of arrowroot, said to be equal
to the best of that from Bermuda. The fruit has a coating of an
orange-colored pulp, which is said to form a rich edible food. It
was from the roots of this plant that the Seminoles of Florida
obtained their _white meal_.
431. ZINGIBER OFFICINALE.--This plant is cultivated in most warm
countries for the sake of its rhizomes, which furnish the spice
called ginger. It is prepared by digging up the roots when a year
old, scraping them, and drying them in the sun. Ginger, when
broken across, shows a number of little fibers embedded in floury
tissue. Its hot pungent taste is due to a volatile oil. It also
contains starch and yellow coloring matter. Ginger is used for
various medicinal purposes, and in many ways as a condiment, and
in the preparation of cordials and so-called teas.
Transcriber's Endnotes
The following list details significant changes to the originally
published text, along with other noteworthy points:
Page 4. "Acacia deal bata" amended to _Acacia dealbata_.
Page 5. "Amomum meleguetta" amended to _Amomum melegueta_.
Page 6. "Andropogon schænanthus" amended to _Andropogon schœnanthus_.
Page 7. "Araucaria bidwilli" amended to _Araucaria bidwillii_.
Page 7. "Araucaria cunninghami" amended to _Araucaria cunninghamii_.
Page 9. "Beaucarnea recurvifolia" remains as printed but could be
an earlier classification of _Beaucarnea recurvata_ based upon
the description.
Page 9. "Bergera konigi" amended to _Bergera koenigii_.
Page 10. "Brosium alicastrum" amended to _Brosimum alicastrum_.
Page 10. "Cæsalpina pulcherrima" amended to _Cæsalpinia pulcherrima_.
Page 11. "Callistemon salignum" amended to _Callistemon salignus_.
Page 13. "Cinchonacæ" amended to _Cinchonaceæ_.
Page 13. "Chamærops fortunii" amended to _Chamærops fortunei_.
Page 17. "Croton calsamiferum" amended to _Croton balsamiferum_.
Page 18. "Dialium acutifolium" remains as printed but could be an
earlier classification of _Dialium cochinchinense_ or _Codarium
acutifolium_.
Page 19. "Dubosia hopwoodii" amended to _Duboisia hopwoodii_.
Page 22. "Feuillæa cordifolia" amended to _Fevillea cordifolia_.
Page 22. "Fourcroya cubense" remains as printed but probably refers
to _Furcræa cubensis_.
Page 23. "Gastrolobium bilobium" amended to _Gastrolobium bilobum_.
Page 24. "Roselee" amended to _Roselle_.
Page 25. "Hyphæ thebaica" amended to _Hyphæne thebaica_.
Page 25. "Ipomæa purga" amended to _Ipomœa purga_.
Page 26. "Jatropha clauca" remains as printed but probably refers
to _Jatropha glauca_.
Page 26. "Krameria triandria" amended to _Krameria triandra_.
Page 27. "Leptosperum lanigerum" amended to _Leptospermum lanigerum_.
Page 27. "Livistonia australis" amended to _Livistona australis_.
Page 27. "Machærum firmum" amended to _Machærium firmum_.
Page 29. "Monstera dellciosa" amended to _Monstera deliciosa_.
Page 30. "Myrosperum toluiferum" amended to _Myrospermum toluiferum_.
Page 31. "Ophiorhiza mungos" amended to _Ophiorrhiza mungos_.
Page 35. "Plumieria alba" amended to _Plumeria alba_.
Page 35. "puniein" amended to _punicin_.
Page 36. "Raphia tœdigera" amended to _Raphia tædigera_.
Page 37. "Sabal adansoni" amended to _Sabal adansonii_.
Page 38. "Anastatica hierochuntina" amended to _Anastatica
hierochuntica_.
Page 39. "Strelitzia regina" amended to _Strelitzia reginæ_.
Page 39. "Strychnos nux vomica" amended to _Strychnos nux-vomica_.
Page 41. "Tristania nerifolia" amended to _Tristania neriifolia_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture" ***
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