FLORA VITIENSIS. 101 
flowers very small. 7. artocarpifolia, Seem., from the islands of Eastern Africa, is different from any other 
species known to me.* 
The general Polynesian name for the different Taccas is Pia (i.e. semen hominis), the Vitian form of 
which is “ Yabia." Pereira (Mat. Medica) seemed to think that * Chailea tacca,” which he quoted from Ellis 
(‘Polynesian Researches,’ vol. i. p. 361), was a native Tahitian name, whilst it is merely Solander's scientific 
name mis-spelt. The arrowroot of Fiji is not, as erroneously stated by Wilkes and others, produced by 
Maranta arundinacea, Linn., but by two species of Tacca, the foliage of which springs up in great abundance 
in the beginning of the warm season, and their tubers ripen about June, when leaves and flowers die off. The 
most common is that kind termed on the Macuata coast Yabia dina (genuine arrowroot), the Tacca pinna- 
tifida, Forst. It delights in light sandy soil, and is therefore most frequently encountered on the seashore ; 
whilst the second species (T. maculata, Seem.), known in Macuata as “ Yabia sa," is almost entirely confined 
to the sides of hills and heavy soils. The natives prefer the first-mentioned species for the purpose of makin 
arrowroot, though they own that there is no difference in the quality of the farinaceous substance prepare 
from either. In most parts of Fiji there are no distinctive names for the two kinds, both being called “ Yabia;" 
yet the natives are perfectly well acquainted with their various characters and peculiarities of habitat. The 
leaf, stalks, and scape of the Yabia sa are prominently speckled, and the segments of the leaves are long and 
narrow, by which it is at once distinguished from its ally. The tubers, when quite ripe, are dug out of the 
ground and rasped on the mushroom coral (Fungia sp.). The fleshy mass thus produced is washed in 
fresh water, to allow the starch to settle at the bottom of the vessel in which the operation is carried on ; 
by pouring off the dirty water, and repeated washings, the starchy sediment may be made to assume any 
desired degree of whiteness. Since Fijian arrowroot has become an article of foreign demand, it has been 
pointed out to the natives that the impurities imparting a greyish colour to the production, caused partly 
by not peeling the tubers previous to rasping them, partly by not washing the sediment a sufficient number 
of times, must be removed in order to raise the marketable value of the article. When a satisfactory degree 
of whiteness has been attained, the starch is dried in the sun. For their own consumption the Fijians do 
not dry their arrowroot, but tie it up in bundles of leaves and bury it in the ground, when it speedily fer- 
ments, and emits a rather disagreeable odour. South Sea arrowroot fetches from threepence-halfpenny to 
fourpence per pound in London; and as it is invaluable when taken in cases of dysentery and diarrhaa,— 
the bane of the South Seas,—it is necessary to have it genuine. The Tonguese have of late years been 
known to adulterate it to a great extent with lime in order to increase its weight and volume, but this fraud 
may readily be detected by watching the arrowroot when it first comes in contact with water; if adulterated . 
with lime, it will fizz. Care should also be taken to guard against the starch of the Cassava or Tapioca 
plant being passed off for Polynesian arrowroot, which, from its slightly purgative tendency and poisonous 
properties, is ill-adapted for bowel complaints. It is much whiter than the arrowroot made of Tacca, sticks 
to the hands like flour, and when a little water is allowed to act upon it, it assumes a pinkish colour ; whilst 
. the arrowroot made of Zucca has a granulated feel, does not adhere to the hand like flour, and is not 
changed in colour by contact with water. From the leaf- and flower-stalks the Tahitians made a superior 
kind of plat, of which George Pritehard (Missionary Reward, p. 179) says:—*'"It is beautifully white, 
smooth, and bright, not much unlike narrow satin ribbon, and so remarkably light as to make it peculiarly 
suitable for the summer season. As a proof of its excellent quality, a house in Scotland has engaged to 
take all that the Polynesians will manufacture." I have been told that Queen Victoria had a bonnet made 
of this plat. 
I. Tacca, Rumpb. Amb. vol. v. p. 328. t. 114, 115, excl. sp. Forst. Gen. n. 35 (Ataccia, Presl, | 
in Reliq. Henk. vol. i. p. 149). — Perigonii corollini tubus cum ovario connatus; limbus superus, 
6-partitus, subzequalis, persistens. Stamina 6, basi laciniarum limbi inserta; filamenta petaloidea, 
lata, apice cucullata v. concava; anther introrsm, 2-loculares, loculis discretis parallelis, cucullo 
v. eoncavitate intus adnatis, apicibus solutis deorsum spectantes. Ovarium eum perigonii tubo 
connatum, l-loculare, placentis parietalibus simplicibus (P) v. 2-lobis, axim fere attingentibus, sub- 
triloculare. Ovula co, horizontalia. Stylus brevis, crassus, 3-sulcus, stigmatibus 3 dilatatis emar- 
ginato-2-lobis. Bacca l- v. spurie 3-locularis, co-sperma. Semina ovata v. lunata, testa cori- 
acea, striata. Embryo minimus, in basi albuminis carnosi, umbilico proximus.—Herbee acaules, 
* Tacca artocarpifolia (sp. nev.), Seem.; foliis 3-partitis, ramis pinnatifidis, laciniis lineari-oblongis 
longe acuminatis integerrimis; involucro 6-7-phyllo, phyllis lanceolatis acuminatissim1s SoPa reger- 
rimis v. exteriore 3-fido.— Madagascar and other islands of Eastern Africa (Lyall! Blackbourn! in Herb. 
Hook.).—A very distinct species; the primary divisions of the leaves look exactly like some of the common 
forms of the Breadfruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa, L.). . 
