Vol. XI No. 267 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



229 



A LITTLE-KNOWN OIL-YIELDING 

 PLANT. 



A common weed in the West Indies is the Lord 

 Lavington or wild hops, as it is sometimes called; the 

 liotanical name is Uyptis cajntala. It is a herbaceous plant 

 which is often seen growing in waste lands and bearing its 

 flowers in globular heads, on the parts of the stem whence 

 the branches spring. This plant is closely related to the 

 inostiuito bush {Ociwum mirraiitkv/in), indigenous to the 

 West Indies, and to sweet basil {0. Jiaxilicutn). In the .same 

 family of plants there are also included such well known 

 forms as rosemary, lavender, Salvia, thyme and mint. 



It is not intended, however, to make //. cajutatn the 

 subject of this article, but to draw attention to another 

 .species of Hyptis, namsly, //. spifiy/ria, which is native to 

 the West Indies but not as commonly found as the species 

 iust mentioned. A special account of this plant, in relation 

 to its existence in French West Africa as on oil-seed bearing 

 species, is given in U AgriculUir'' Pratniue dcs Pai/s C/iauds 

 for February 1912, p. 16.3, and this is employed as the 

 source of the following information. 



Uyptis spi<-i'jera is known in parts of French West 

 Africa as Benefing, which means black sesame. Like 

 II rapitata, it is an annual herbaceous plant; it is distin- 

 guished from it in several ways, however, notably by the 

 facts that the flowers are borne in terminal spikes instead of 

 in heads, and that the leaves are narrower, being more 

 nearly lance-shaped than those of the latter. The seed is 

 about .. --inch in length. Its colour is that of dark tobacco, 

 and it bears a small white spot in the form of a V, at one 

 end. The method of obtaining the seed is by threshing, as 

 for sesame (see A'/rindfuinl News, Vol. XI, p. 101). 



The Director of the Official Laboratory for Technical 

 Investigations of Oil-yielding Materials, at Marseilles 

 (M. K. Milliau), had occasion to study a sample of the seed 

 which was shown among the e.xhibits from French West 

 Africa at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. When these 

 seeds were treated with carbon bisulphide in a continuous 

 extraction apparatus, they yielded 37 32 per cent, of an oil 

 having a yellow amber colour. This was of average fluidity, 

 and possessed an odour very closely resembling that of 

 linseed oil. ' A compari-son of the two oils gave the following 

 particulars, among others, the order being— oil from Hyptis, 

 and linseed oil: specific gravity, 943(') and 932 5; satura- 

 tion, 173 and 17-9; iodine value, 171 and 153 to 162; 

 molecular weight of the fatty acids, 209 and 280-5; drying 

 power, 1"'7 and 15. 



It is pointed out in the article that the iodine value of 

 the Hyptis oil is the highest known, and suggests the pos- 

 session of a very strong drying power— an indication which 

 receives support from the figures just given. 



In giving general conclusions concerning this oil, 

 M. Milliau states that Hyptis oil contains too high a propor- 

 tion of liquid fatty acids for it to be utilized advantageously 

 in cases where stearine is employed; its drying power adds to 

 this disadvantage. It could only be used to a small extent in 

 soap-making for, like all drying oils, it yields a soap which 

 does not keep well; trial has shown that the soap made 

 from it decomposes partially, after being exposed eight days 

 to light and air; it becomes yellow and exhales a strong smell 

 of linseed oil. In the varnish and painting industries, on the 

 contrary, the drying power of this oil makes it of particular 

 advantage. 



A subsequent examination by another investigator of 

 seeds from a diff"erent .source, showed that they contained the 

 following: moisture 7-12, fatty matter 2700, and nitro- 



genous matter 25 50 per cent. The cake left after the 

 extraction of the oil is rich enough in nitrogen to be usefully 

 employed in agriculture. It will be noticed that this 

 analysis gives a much lower percentage of fatty matter than 

 the former; it is however sufficiently high to admit of the 

 industrial employment of the seed. As is suggested in the 

 article, it appears that this discrepancy between the analyses 

 can hardly be explained otherwise than on the assumption 

 that there exist several varieties of //. spirigera, having 

 seeds of very different composition. The choice of the best 

 kinds for propagation would be an easy matter. 



The conclusion of the article is concerned with sug- 

 gestions for the exploitation of Hyptis spiciijera as an 

 oil-seed yielding plant in parts of French West Africa. 



CAMPHOR FROM DRIED CAMPHOR 



LEAVES. 



Articles have appeared in this journal from time 

 to time (see ArjricuKural News, Vol. XI, p. 93) deal- 

 ing with the yield of camphor from leaves and twigs. 

 The account below, of the returns obtained by drying 

 the leaves previous to distillation, is taken from the 

 Semi- Annual Report of Schimmel & Co., dated 

 April 1912:— 



In our Report of October 1910 (p. 27) we discussed 

 a paper by Lomtnel on the preparation of camphor at Amani. 

 A second paper from the same author* contains some 

 interesting data on the distillation of dried camphor leaves, 

 of which a synopsis is given below. The author first deals 

 with the distillation of leaves which had been spread out for 

 drying in a small cinchona plantation shortly before the 

 setting in of the rains, but which were not yet quite dry. 

 The camphor yield from these leaves was too small to make 

 it worth while estimating it, and the experiment was set 

 down as a failure. For a subsequent distilling experiment 

 a plantation was subjected to moderate cutting, when 

 a quantity of dry fallen leaves was found on the ground 

 between rows of plants. These were first distilled and only 

 yielded 006 per cent, of crude camphor and 019 per cent, of 

 camphor oil, showing that they had lost almost the whole of 

 their volatile constituents during the long time they had 

 been lying on the ground drying, exposed to the alternating 

 effects of rain and sun. 



Next the green leaves were dried on previously cleaned 

 ground under the shade of cultivated cinchona trees. In the 

 course of about a fortnight they were dry enough to be 

 readily stripped from the branches and, collected in sacks, 

 they were carried to the still. This experiment gave 

 a thoroughly satisfactory result, the yield being 1-55 per 

 cent, of crude camphor, and 0'49 per cent, of camphor oil. The 

 result would certainly have been better still, but that on one 

 occasion, in the course of the distilling process, the condens- 

 ing water became heated, and a not inconsiderable quantity 

 of camphor was thereby lost. 



In view of the fact that present experience of the effects 

 of cutting upon the growth of the trees shows it to be 

 a pretty well established fart that it is possible to cut the 

 trees twice a year, it is reasonable to expect a five year old 

 plantation to yield about 8,400 lb. of dry leaves per acre. 

 This would be equivalent to an output per acre of about 

 325 lb. of camphor, and about 103 ft), of camphor oil. 



*Oer Pfiwizer, ZtUschrift fur Land- und Forsttvirtschaft in 

 Dentsch-Ostafrica, 7 (1011), "441. 



