FLORA OF THE ISTKilTS OF PAKAMA. 211 
four Orders as belonging to that great division {Pisfiacece, Ttjjyltacecs, JroiJeo', and FandanccE). To Pw/t- 
acea it cannot belong, because (leaving hiibitual differences out of consideration) it has an axile pkcenta- 
tion. Amongst Ty^haccce it cannot be placed, because it bas a multiovular ovary. "With Aroidea it 
cannot be associated, because it bas a drupaceous fruit ; and witb Pandanece (including Cyrtanthete) it 
cannot be joined, because it bas an axile placentation. Repelled by these and other considerations from 
placing it with any of the Natural Orders above mentioned, and finding it impossible to trace out any 
relationship of it with any other group of plants besides the Spadicijlorce, we are compelled to adopt the 
vie-ft-s of Martins, who looks upon it as the tj-pe of a new Natural Order (Fhytde]}hantlica^. 
The uses of the Ivory -plant may, as far as they are known, be summed up in a few words. The ludiaiw 
cover their cottages with the leaves of it ; but this is only done when those of Palms are not procurable, as 
the latter last much longer than the former. The seed at first contains a clear insipid fluid, with which 
travellers allay their thirst ; afterwards, this same liquor becomes milky and sweet, and it changes its taste 
by degrees as it acquires solidity, until at last it is almost as hard as ivory. The liqimr contained in the 
young fi^ita turns acid if they are cut from the tree and kept some time. From the kernels (albumen) the 
American Indians as well as European turners fashion the knobs of walking-sticks, the reels of spindles, 
and little toys, which are whiter than animal ivory, and equally hard, if they are not put under water ; aud if 
they are, they become white and hard when dried again. Bears, hogs, and turkeys, devour the young 
fruit with avidity. Purdie says : — " Enclosing the seeds is a yellow, sweet, oily pulp, which is collected at 
the proper season (October), and sold under the name of P//?a de Tagua, for one real a pound at Ocaiia; a 
spoonftil of it with a little sugar aud water, makes the celebrated Chiclia de Tagm^ said to be the most deli- 
cious beverage of ITew Granada." This statement is difficult to reconcile witli the internal organization of 
the fruit, and requires some emendations. Purdie wrote the letter in which it is contained in July, 1845, 
after he first saw the Ivory-plant, when he could not know, from personal experience, what took place in 
October following. He must have gathered it, therefore, from information obtained from the native in- 
habitants, who, not being versed in botanical termiuology, might easily have made a mistake. The "yel- 
low, sweet, oily pulp" can, iu my opinion, be nothiug save the second state into which the albumen 
enters, previous to its becoming solid ; and I am the more inclined to think that this opinion is correct, 
as it is borne out to a certain extent by analogy. For in the Isthmus of Panama, and other localities of 
New Granada, the name of P;}m is applied to a beverage prepared from the young albumen of cocoa-nuts, 
and in a similar way as that described by Purdie. The same author proceeds : — " It has, however, a 
slightly drastic property. Although this substance contains much oil, it never becomes rancid by keeping, 
but at the end of nine months it preserves, in a crude state, all its flavour and quality." 
Plate XLA^. Fig. 1, male plant; 2, female plant, loth reduced^ 3, section of the portion of the 
leaves, natural size; 4, albumen, entire; 5, transverse section of the same, hoth natural size; 6 and 7, em- 
bryo, slig litlg magnified; 8, a young plant, natural size. 
Plates XL VI. and XLYII. (a double plate.) Fig. 1, portion of male spike, natural size; 2, stamens, 
magnified; 3, female flowers, natural size; 4, ovary and portion of the style, sUgJitly magnified; 5 and 6, 
different views of the ovary, slightly magnified; 7, a head of the immature fruit j 8, a head of the ripe 
fruit ; 9, portion of the fruit (the three last represented in their natural size). 
AROIDEiE. 
.934. CoLocAsiA esculenta, Schott, Kuntt, Ennm. vol. iii. p. S7.~-Arnm esculentum, Linn. Syst. 
Vcg. (edit. Pers.), p. 872.— C. antiquorum, Scliott?— Nomen vemacul. "Oto." Cultivated in fields 
for the sake of its esculent tubers. 
The Oto is in the Isthmus always cultivated in fields, in dry grounds, never in swamps, as is generally 
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