LiLIALES.J 



LILIACE^. 



203 



in the southern parts of Africa ; one species is a native of the West Indies, and two or 

 three moi*c of Arabia and tlie East. Dracaenas, the most gigantic of the Order, attain 

 their largest size in the Canaries ; a D. Draco there is described as bemg between 70 

 and 75 feet high, 46^ feet in circumference at the base, and was kuoAvn to have been a 

 very ancient tree hi the year 1406. The northern Flora comprehends for the most 

 part plants of the genera Scilla, Hyacinthus, Allium, and Ornithogalum. In the East 

 Indies. Lily worts are rare ; in New Holland they fonn a distinctly marked featm*e of the 

 vegetation, and in New Zealand they are represented by the Phormium or Flax-bush. 



A very considerable number are employed for the pm'poses of manldiid. Among the 

 most extensively useful are those whose fibre is strong enough to furnish cordage. 

 Such are Phormium tenax, the New Zealand Flax, whose toughness rivals that of 

 Hemp, and the Sansevieras, a race of hard-leaved perennial plants, found all over the 

 tropics of Africa and India, from which a yet stronger substance is obtained under the 

 name of African Hemp, or Bowstrmg Hemp. The Yuccas too yield a tenacious fibre, 

 but it is of comparative unimportance. Several species have been used as food from 

 the most remote antiquity ; those chiefly belong to Allium. The Onion, Garlic, and 

 Leek, says Dr. Royle, called in Arabic Busl, Som, and KoiTas, seem to be alluded to 

 in the earhest parts of the Bible (Numbers, ch. xi. v. 12), as the names there used are 

 very similar to these. All are cultivated in gardens in India, as well as Alhum ascalo- 

 nicum and A. tuberosum. The bulbs of Alhum leptophyllum are eaten by the hill- 

 people, and the leaves are di'ied and preserved as a condiment. Chives, Shallots, and 

 Rocambole are other species of the Alliaceous race. The bulbs of Camassia esculenta 

 are eaten by the North American Indians under the name of Quamash, 

 and those of Lihum pomponium are roasted and eaten m Kamtchatka, 

 where it is as commonly cultivated as the Potato with us. Erytlu'onium 

 Dens canis is said to furnish a part of the diet of the Tartars. The 

 Cordyline Ti (Dracaena teraiinalis), or Ti plant, affords an important 

 part of the food of a Sandwich islander. Its great woody roots are baked, 

 when they become sweet and nutritious. Bruised, mixed \vith water, 

 and fermented, it forms an intoxicating beverage ; distilled, an ardent 

 spirit is readily obtained ; boiled before fermentation, a rich syrup, ca- 

 pable of bemg a substitute for sugar, is the result. Cattle, sheep, and 

 goats are fond of the leaves, which furnish thatch for houses, and are 

 woven into a kind of cloth. Its truncheons take root when stuck in 

 the ground, and form a valuable permanent hedge. — Bot. Reg. 1. 1749. 

 Mr. Drammond says that the tops of different species of Xanthorrhsea 

 furnish all kinds of cattle with valuable fodder, in the Swan River 

 colony. Hooker Journ. 2. 328 ; and we learn from Mr. Backhouse that 

 the base of the mner leaves of the Grass -tree of Tasmannia is not to 

 be despised by the hungry. The aborigines beat off the heads of these 

 singular plants by stinking them about the top of the trunk with a large 

 stick ; they then strip off the outer leaves and cut away the inner 

 ones, leavhig about an inch and a half of the white tender 

 portion, joining the trunk : this portion they eat raw or 

 roasted ; and it is far from disagreeable in flavom-, hav- 

 ing a milky taste, slightly balsamic. There are some 

 other species of Grass-tree in the colony, the base of 

 the leaves of wliich may also be used as food : those of 

 the dwarf Grass-tree, Xanthorrhsea humihs, which is 

 abundant about York Town, may be obtained by twisting 

 the inner leaves firmly together, and pulhng them forcibly 

 upwards ; but care is required not to cut the fingers, by 

 slipping the hand. Even in Europe the young shoots of 

 Polygonatum (Solomon's Seal), and others, have been sub- 

 stituted for Asparagus, and the annual cultivation of tli< 

 latter for kitchen purposes is known to every one. 



Aloes and Squills indicate the value of some Lilies in 

 medicine. The acrid matter which thus renders them 

 valuable as purgatives or emetics, is found in a consi- 

 derable number of species. The bulb of the Urginea or 

 Scilla maritima, and Pancratium, (the SkjAA-tj and YlavKpa- 

 TLov of Dioscorides) is nauseous and acrid, actmg cither as an emetic, purgative, 

 expectorant, or diuretic, in proportion to the dose in which it is given ; its proper- 

 ties are said to be due to a pecuhar principle, called by Vogel, Scillitin. It is curious 



Fig. CXXXVllI.— Xanlhonhsea hastilis. 



