Chapter III: Part 3

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. [OE]NOCARPUS 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. PH[OE]NIX 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 F[OE]TIDA.--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.