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Wanted.— Short notes of interest to the general bot- 

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



Corn Products. — Indian com or maize, the last dis- 

 covered of the edible grains, bids fair to become of more 

 value than all the others combined. In addition to its use 

 as food for man and beast, it is the source of alcohol, 

 whiskey, glucose, sugar, starch, dextrine, syrup, glycerine, 

 com oil and a valuable substitute for rubber. 



Pollen as Food. — In Baluchistan, according to Indian 

 Planting and Gardening, the narrow-leaved cat-tail 

 ( Typha angustifolia) is known as elephant grass, and the 

 pollen is gathered and used like flour in making bread by 

 the inhabitants of Sind and Bombay. A recent anal3^sis 

 showed it to have a high food value as it contained about 

 47 per cent, of carboh^'-drates and 20 per cent, of albu- 

 minoids. 



The Litchee.— Occasionally one may find at the fruit 

 stores a certain round nut similar in external appearance 

 to the fruit of the button-wood (Platamis occidentalis) . 

 The shell is thin and upon being broken reveals, within, a 

 dark kernel like a raisin in taste and appearance, which 

 encloses a large dark colored seed. This nut is often called 

 the Chinese nut, but is more properly the litchee {Nephel- 

 ium litchi). Those who have tasted the fresh fruit say 

 that there is no comparison between it and the shrivelled 

 specimens in the stores. When fresh the outer shell is 

 tinged with pink and the interior is full of the jelly-like 

 pulp, whitish and almost transparent. The litchee is a 

 member of the Sapindaceee and therefore a not distant 

 relative of the bitter-sweet (Celastrus) and the burning 

 bush (Euonymus). The pulp of the litchee is really an aril 

 comparable to the scarlet pulp of its relatives above men- 

 tioned. 



