Part 8

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 _Apocynaceae_. 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 _Verbenaceae_.

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 JUSSIAEI.--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 _Apocynaceae_, 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 deg. 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. XANTHORRH[OE]A 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 AL[OE]FOLIA.--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 _Cycadaceae_, 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 schaenanthus" amended to _Andropogon sch[oe]nanthus_.

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. "Caesalpina pulcherrima" amended to _Caesalpinia pulcherrima_.

Page 11. "Callistemon salignum" amended to _Callistemon salignus_.

Page 13. "Cinchonacae" amended to _Cinchonaceae_.

Page 13. "Chamaerops fortunii" amended to _Chamaerops 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. "Feuillaea cordifolia" amended to _Fevillea cordifolia_.

Page 22. "Fourcroya cubense" remains as printed but probably refers to _Furcraea cubensis_.

Page 23. "Gastrolobium bilobium" amended to _Gastrolobium bilobum_.

Page 24. "Roselee" amended to _Roselle_.

Page 25. "Hyphae thebaica" amended to _Hyphaene thebaica_.

Page 25. "Ipomaea purga" amended to _Ipom[oe]a 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. "Machaerum firmum" amended to _Machaerium 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 t[oe]digera" amended to _Raphia taedigera_.

Page 37. "Sabal adansoni" amended to _Sabal adansonii_.

Page 38. "Anastatica hierochuntina" amended to _Anastatica hierochuntica_.

Page 39. "Strelitzia regina" amended to _Strelitzia reginae_.

Page 39. "Strychnos nux vomica" amended to _Strychnos nux-vomica_.

Page 41. "Tristania nerifolia" amended to _Tristania neriifolia_.