680 



CANNACEiE. 



says that the root "^mshed, 'pounded Jin e and bleached, makes a fmefi 

 and starch,'' — .sometimes used as food when provisions are scarce.^ 



Hughes, when writing of Barbadoes in 1750, describes arrowroot a.-, d, 

 very useful plant, the juice mixed with water and drunk being regarded 

 as " a preservative against any poison of an hot nature " ; while from 



made 



The pro- 



perties of Maranta amndinacea as a counter-poison are insisted upon 

 at some length by Lunan,^ who concludes his notice of the plant by 

 detailing the process for extracting starch from the rhizome. 



Arrowroot came into use in England about the commencement of 

 the present century, the supplies being obtained, as it would appear, 

 from Jamaica."^ 



The statements of Sloane, which are confirmed by Browne and 

 Lunan, plainly indicate the origin and meaning of the word arrowroot, 

 and disprove the notion of the learned C. F. Ph. von Martius (1867) 

 that the name is derived from that of the Arnac or Aroaquis Indians 

 ot South America, who call the finest sort of fecula they obtain from 

 the Mandioc Arxi-aru. It is true that Maranta amndinacea is kno\ni 

 at the present day in Brazil as Araruta, but the name is certainly a 

 corruption of the English word arrowroot, the plant according to general 

 report having been introduced.^ 



Manufacture— For the production of arrowroot, the rhizomes are 

 dug up after the plant has attained its complete maturity, which in 

 beorgia is at the beginning of Manter, The scales which cover them 

 are removed and the rhizomes washed ; the latter are then ground in a 

 mill, and the pulp is washed on sieves, or in washing machines con- 

 structed for the purpose, in order to remove from it the starch. This is 

 allowed to settle down in pure water, is then drained and finally dried 

 with a gentle heat. Instead of being crushed in a mill, the rhizomes 

 are sometimes grated to a pulp by a rasping machine. 



In all stages of the process for making arrowroot, nice precautions 

 nave to be taken to avoid contamination with dust, iron mould, insects, 

 or anything which can impart colour or taste to the product. The 

 rhizome contains about G8 per cent, of water, and yields about a fifth of 

 its weight of starch.^ ^ 



Description— Arrowroot is a brilliant white, insipid, inodorous, 

 powder, more or less aggregated into lumps which seldom exceed a pea 



m size ; when pressed it emits a shght cracklino- sound. It exhibits the 

 eeneral nronprf.v. ^f „+.„„!. „,.._. ^.. ,. ,« " oranules which are 



ater 



o„-k -u • -r--— -^ -^^-o-ivii, uuiisiwung entirely 01 

 subsphencal, or broadly and irregularly egg-shaped ; 

 they show a distinct stratification in the form of fi 



, when seen m w; 

 fine concentric rings 



around a small star-like hilum. They have a diameter of 5 to 7 mkm- 

 Muen observed m the air or imrlnr V^pn^nl Tf fi.^ .,.of^v ;,-. wliif^h they 



Arrow-rofj " t> "* ^'"JAts or Jnaiau 

 ' Since the ^i^f ''" "^' ^^'''- ^-^•^" »'«"«. So-^. 



^piute.— , . 1 know not 



If the water in wliich they 



Martius' derivation of UirroivrooL' On the 

 Amazon it is called * araruta '^l^l^^^m ^ 

 corruption of tlie English name, and ex- 

 plained by tlie fact that it was first cultv 

 vated, as f was told, from tubers obtanievl in 



the East Indies." 



•^This was in 'the German colony oiBln- 

 miinhi Southern Brazil— Eberliar J, Arch. 



m cii 



iler Pharw, 134(1808)257. 



