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. IPOM[OE]A 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.