February i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



555 



a beverage, as well as in medicine. The name Guarana 

 is derived from a native tribe, Guariuis. The following 

 is the merle of preparing the seeds : — After being dried, 

 and the aril removed, they are powdered; water is then 

 added, and tlin mass kneaded into a kind of dough, 

 which is rolled into cylindrical masses 5 to 6 inches long, 

 or spherical lumps, and finally dried in the smi or by fire- 

 smoke. AVhen so treated they become very hard, and of 

 a darkish brown colour, and can be kept or carried aijout 

 for a long time. It has an astringent bitter taste, and 

 a sraeil somewhat hke chocolate. Its medicinal properties 

 ate regarded as tonic, febrifugal, nutritive, and slightly 

 narcotic. It acts as a restorative and nervous stimulant 

 similar to that of ordinary tea and coffee. In Brazil it 

 it extensively used in the preparation of a refreshing and 

 nutritious drink made by putting a tea-spoonful of the 

 prepared Guarana in a glass of sweetned water. Tt has 

 been introduced into this country, and recommended in 

 diarrhoea, neuralgia, nervous headache, &c. 

 Leguminosji. 



13. Psoralea ghinrhdosa, L. (Jesuits' Tea, or C'alen). — 

 A dwarf shrub with trifoliate leaves, native of Chili, 

 where an infusion of the leaves is drunk as a tea— more, 

 perhaps, for its medicinal value than as a refreshing bever- 

 age, having vermifuge and stomachic properties. The plant 

 has a smell like Rue. 



14. Ct/rlrtpia i/etiistoides. Vent. fBush Tea, or Honig- 

 thee). — A glabrous shrub with ultimate ses.sile trifoliate 

 leaves, and bluutly mucrouate linear leaflets, which are 

 used at the Cape, where the plant grows, as a substitute 

 for tea. The aroma is said to strongly resemble that of 

 Chinese te.-^. an 1 the taste to be sweetish astringent. It 

 is valued at the Cape as a restorative, and a decoction 

 or infusion is ut ten given to promote expectoration in chronic 

 catarrh, or even in consumption. The leaves of C. Vogelii, 

 Harv., are said to be used for a similar purpose. 



1.5. Borhonia parviflom,\j2iTnk. (Stekelthee). — A glabrous 

 shrub with compressed angular winged branches, and altern- 

 ate, cordate, many-nerved, mucronate leaves. The plant 

 is common at the Cape on the Lion's Head and 'Table 

 Mountains, and a decoction is used as a medicinal tea in 

 asthma, and as a diuretic. 



16. A straff nil's Bneiiri'St L. — A procumbent plant, native 

 of Spain, Barbary, Sicily, and the Levant, the seeds of 

 which, when mated and ground, are used in Hungary 

 more as a substitute for coffee than tea. 



ROSACK.E. 



17. Cfiffortia ilicifolia. L. (Dooruthee). — A South Afric- 

 an shrub common in the district of Uitenhage, where 

 the sharp-pointed and spiny leaves are used as tea, and as 

 an emollient and expectorant in coughs. 



18. Primus spinosa, L. (Sloe, or Blackthorn). — This is 

 introduced because the leaves were at one time extens- 

 ively u.sed for adulterating Chinese Tea, and it is said that 

 they form the best substitute known. 



S-iXlFRAOE.'E. 



19. Hi/di-anf/ea T)ivnherciin, Sieb. (Amatsji, or Tea of 

 Heaven). — A Japanese shrub found on the mountains of 

 Aiva and Souaki, where the leaves, which are oblong and 

 serrate, are, when dried, used by the natives as tea, 

 under the name referred to above, and by the Chinese as 

 " Di-sldo-san." It is sometimes known as " Sweet Tea " 

 by the Japanese, who assert that there is a variety of the 

 same plant with bitter leaves, which they call "Kakassoo." 



M\T!t.\ce;e. 



20. Lcptospcrmum scopai-ium, Forst. (New Zealand Tea 

 tree). — A shrub 4 to 6 feet high, native of New Zealand 

 and Australia. The leaves were used by the seamen of 

 Captain Cook's espedition as a substitute for tea. The 

 flavour is an agreeable bitter, and when fresh they have 

 a pleas.ant smell, which is partially lost in drying. A 

 strong infusion has been found emetic in a similar way to 

 green tea. "They were also used with Spruce leaves in equal 

 quantities to correct their astringency in brewing beer from 

 them, and thej' remlered the beer exceedingly palatable." 



Onagr.\ce.i;. 



21. Ep-loUumnnfinstifohjm, L. (Twan Te.a). — The leaves 

 of this well-known plant are used in Finland for making 

 tea. When so prepared they have quite the appearance 

 and smell of black tea. 



CoJIPOSIT.Ti'. 



22. Solidxiyo odora. Ait. (Blue Hoimtaiu Tea). — A plant 

 ,2 or 3 feet high, with a slender erect pubescent stem, 

 and linear lanceolate leaves, entire, acute, rough at. the 

 margins, aud covered with pellucid dots. It is fot.nd in 

 woods and fields more or less abundantly in all parts of 

 the United States. The leaves liave an agreeable, !■, i,rm, 

 aromatic taste, aud a fragi-ant smell. The are not only valued 

 in America for their medicinal properties, but a large tra<Ie 

 is done with them under the name of Blue Mountain Tea. 

 Quantities of tliis so-calh^d tea are said to be brought into 

 Chicago. The following account has been given of it ; — 

 " This tea is gathered in large quantities on the Blue Mount- 

 ains, and the mountains to the north of that range- 

 The tea matures in the latter part of September, aud is 

 gathered until late in October. It is then cured, and put 

 up into packages, selUng on the mouutams at from 20 

 cents to 30 cen's per pound, but retailing in villages and 

 towns at 1 dol. per pound. The tea has a very pleasant 

 amomatic flavour, and is held by many persons in great 

 esteem. " 



20. Helichrysiim nulifioruiii. Less. (KaflSr Tea). — A com- 

 mon herbaceous p'ant of South Africa, with amplesicaul, 

 ovate lanceolate, radical leaves, and narrow, lanceolate, 

 sharp-pointed cauhne ones. The plant is demulcent, and 

 an infusion made from it is given in phthisis, catarrh, and 

 pulmonary complaints generally. An infusion of the leaves 

 forms the tea. Xu allied species, H. serpylUfolium, Less., 

 furnishes Hottentots' tea. 'The plant, like the last species, 

 is demulcent and emollient. The leaves have an agreeable 

 smell, and for the purposes of tea-making are highly 

 esteemed by the people. The Duinen-thee — so named from 

 the plant being abundant on the Cape Downs — is yielded 

 by H. imbricatum, Less. ' 



24. Ei'pato,-inm triplinerv, Vahl. (K. Ayapana, Vent.). — 

 A slender, glabrous, erect, perennial herb, native of the 

 Amazon Valley, has been introduced into India, Mauritius, 

 and other parts of the world. It has had a reputation 

 on account of its medicinal value in fevers, cholera &c.; 

 its general use, however, is a,s a gentle tonic. The leaves, 

 when dried, have a smell somewhat resembling hay, and have 

 been used as tea in Bourbon. — Garilenni's^ Chronicle. 



A STANDARD WOKK. 



Our Netherland Indies have hitherto taken little share 

 in this movement, but this will improve. Burton says of 

 it " this weed — the mwhr—hy common in the East, may 

 one day become for the "West an important article of 

 commerce." And it is sincerely to be wished that our 

 India may take the hint and .sliare in the renewed activ- 

 ity; she possesses the materia' itself in gieat abundance. 

 Besides being worked up by European industry, t6 mix up 

 with finer textures, this fibre is also used in N. Africa, 

 Arabia, &c., like the kapok with us, for stuffing mattrasses 

 and bedding. It is also employed now as a material for 

 paper, aud as such, answers pretty well. The natives apply 

 the vii/ki/ juice to bad ulcers, and contrive to use the fine, 

 sdky fibre, so difficult to s[nu. a^ rope yarn. 



The other useful genera and species, among others the 

 iiulifjo. nila {Marsflenia tinctoria ; II. 401) have all passed 

 into regular cultivation ; the wali kamhiiuf Sarcolohas Spaii- 

 nocfhei ; II. -502), however, not yet ; much in demand for 

 hunting and fishing, for instance to catch tigers. 



Coavohudaceip (II, 582). — .^niong these several genera, as 

 the Ochi (Batatas) which, however, are also largely cultiv- 

 ated everywhere, furnish the hmkoeiuf ilp&moea reptajts : 

 II. 601) etc., tubers, roots, stalks, leaves, which gathered 

 together from the woods or raar.shes, are articles of daily 

 occurrence at the pasars. 



Solaneae (II. 633). — With the Bolmieas it is the same; 

 their products, Sol.molvntjciui (II. 6S3) with several varieties 

 and little diverging sorts, as tltrontj, capslcos (II. 6.57) etc. 

 are much cidtivated, yet much is also gleaned from the 

 wilderness ; even more than of the preceding griiup. in 

 request also for the European tji'ole. It is unnecessary to 

 treat here of the potato or the to'oicco, neither of them 

 indigenous, but imported, but we nwist metition the thoyn- 

 i'pplc, kHjofibseonf/ Datvra (spec, div.; L 636), used pharm- 

 aceutically by the natives as anolyue against worms, 

 eruptions, etc. (formerly also by thieves in warongs to 

 stupify their victims) this is now seldom heard of anyuioiie 



