Botanical Collections. 385 



Lunan tells us, that from the " roots of the Sweet Cassada, Tapioca is 

 made in Jamaica in every respect similar to that imported, which is done by 

 grating them, washing and infusing them in water, and evaporating the 

 liquor, so as to obtain a sediment like starch, which must be well dried in 

 the sun." The root of the Manioc is also the basis of several kinds of 

 fermented liquors ; and an excellent condiment for seasoning meats, called 

 Cabion, or Capion, is prepared from the juice, and said to sharpen the 

 appetite. The leaves, beaten and boiled, are eaten after the manner of 

 spinach ; and the fresh root is employed in healing ulcers. From what has 

 been above stated, it will appear, that the expression of the juice from the 

 root deprives the latter of all its deleterious properties ; and that the appli- 

 cation of heat to these juices renders their residue also wholesome and 

 nourishing. And whilst cassava bread is, as Sloane says, in the most 

 general demand of any provision all over the West Indies, and is employed 

 to victual ships, the use of tapioca is still more extended, and throughout 

 Europe is largely employed for the same purposes as sago and arrow-root. 

 — Hooker, in Bot. Mag. t. 1370. 



Notes on Laihrcea Squamaria In an able and interesting paper " on the 



parasitical connection of Lathrcea squamaria, and the peculiar structure of its 

 subterranean leaves," published in the Transactions of the Linncean Society/, 

 vol. xvi. p. 399, and in a notice in Loudon's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 105, Mr 

 Bowman has mentioned a plant which he considers as probably distinct 

 from L. squamaria of Smith. I have also lately gathered and examined 

 specimens of Lathrcea, and had at first formed the same opinion ; but I now 

 have reason to believe, that this has arisen chietly from variation in the 

 plant itself, but partly from slight inaccuracies in the drawing in Eng. Bot. 

 t. 50, and also in the description in Flor. Brit. The whole plant, excepting 

 the bructese, and upper part of the segments of the calyx, is covered with 

 scattered hairs, as represented, but too slightly, in the plate in Eng. Bot. 

 The segments of the calyx in the young blossom are nearly equal ; when 

 more advanced, the two uppermost are the largest ; they are thin and 

 membranaceous, and not as stated by Smith, of the texture of the leaves, (or 

 bractese,) which are succulent, and free from hairs. 



In all the specimens which I have examined, the upper lip of the corolla 

 is perfectly entire and truncate ; in Eng. Bot. and Flor. it is drawn and 

 described as deeply cloven ; Mr Bowman, and G. E. Smith, in his 

 Catalogue of the plants of South Kent, say, that it is entire, or sometimes 

 slightly notched. The colour of the blossom inclines more to a pinkish- 

 purple than in the figure in Eng. Bot. with which colour the upper part of 

 the stem is also tinged. The flowers, in all that I have seen, are in four 

 rows ; Withering says in two or three. Bowman in three. 



The style is often exserted, but sometimes included, as it is represented 

 in the figure in Flor. Dan. t. 136. 



The bractese are generally broadly ovate. Mr G. E. Smith has described 

 a variety, in which they are lanceolate. 



The figure in Eng. Bot. was taken from a plant gathered at Exton, near 

 Stamford, from whence it would be desirable to obtain specimens, to ascer- 

 tain whether that and the common Lathrcea of other places are the same 

 species. — W. G. Trevelyan. May, 1831. 



VOL. III. 3 c 



