230 STERCULIACE. 
drying at 100° C., and on incineration yields about 4 per cent. 
of ash. Examined under the microscope, no starch can be — 
detected, but a few small polygonal parenchyme cells are 
usually to be met with. The mucilage possesses little or no 
adhesive power. 
From some comparative experiments made with cod-liver 
and castor oils it appears to be about equal to tragacanth as an 
emulsifying agent. (J. G. Prebble.) 
Commerce.—The gum exudes most abundantly in the cold 
weather, and is collected by the forest tribes. Value about 
Rs. 12 per ewt. 
In China the fruits of Sterculia scaphigera, Wall., 
are used on account of the large quantity of gum, which they 
contain under the name of Ta-hai-tsze. They were introduced 
into France as a cure for dysentery under the name of Bod- 
tam-paijang, but were found to act simply asa demulcent- 
These fruits are from 3 to 14 in. long, ovoid, usually somewhat 
elongated at the lower extremity, which terminates by ® large 
oblique cicatrix. Externally they are of a dark-brown, 
deeply wrinkled, though generally less so at the superior 
extremity. The pericarp, which is from 7, to 25 of an nC 
in thickness, consists of a thin epidermis, beneath which lies 
a dry, black, resinous-looking pulp, surrounding a fragile shell 
lined with a whitish membrane. The central portion of the 
fruit is occupied by two cotyledons, which in their dried 
state are thin and concave. When the fruit is macerated 
in water, its outer shell, or pericarp, increases enormously : 
in volume, forming a large gelatinous mass. (See Hanbury® — 
Science Papers, p. 235, wherea figure of the fruit willibe fount) 
~Guibourt found in the pericarp, green oil 1:06, bassorim 
59°04, brown astringent matter and mucilage 1-60, woody 
fibre and epidermis 320; and in the nucleus, fatty matte? 
_ 2°98, saline and bitter extractive 0-21, starch and cellulat 
tissue 31°91] per cent. ; 
___« Several species of sterculia afford large oily seeds, which ar 
_ eaten by the natives. Of these, 9. fetida, Linn.; Wight Tes 
