SCtTAMlNEJE, 440 



Tile asli of the husk of the ripe fruit was fouud to conttun 47-98 

 fcarbonate of potash, 6'58 carbonate of sodium, 25 '18 chloride 

 of potassium, 5' 66 alkaline phosphates (with a little sulphate), 

 7-50 charcoal, 7-10 lime^ silica, earthy phosi^hatcs, &c. In the 

 juice of the flower stem of the same plant, Comnille {J. Pharm. 

 (3) 48, 269) found 25'27 per cent, potash, 9*52 soda, 15'85 lime, 

 h-Q magnesia, 0'87 alumina, with a trace of ferric oxide, 6-30 

 chlorine, 0'96 sulphuric anhydride, 0*87 phosphoric anhydride, 

 0-81 silica, and 34*17 carbonic anhydride (calculated from the 

 bases). 



Commerce. — Dried plantains are an article of commerce in 

 India, and are excellent when stewed with sugar or fried in 

 butter. Bombay exports annually from 300 to 400 cwts» 



CANNA INDICA, Linn- 

 Fig.— Eheede, Eort. Mai. xL, t. 43. Indian Shot or Bead 



{Eng.), Balisier (i^/^ ) . 



Hab. — Uncertain. Common throughout India in gardens 



and cultivated ground. The fruit and root. 



FcrwacM^ftA— Sabba-jaya, Akalbar {Hind.), Sarba-jaya 

 {Beng.), Kandamani-cheddi (Tarn.), Krishna-taniara (TcL), 

 Katd-bula (Mtif.), Sugundaraju-gida {Can.)> Deokeli, Kumakshi 

 (Mar.). 



History, Uses, &c.— This plant, though common every ^ 

 ^here, is not truly w^ild in India ; how and from whence it has 

 been introduced is not known ; it occurs also in Burma and 

 Ceylon, and the seeds are used as prayer-beads by the Burmese. 

 In the West Indies, especially in St. Kitts, a nearly alHcd species 

 is cultivated for its starch, M^hich is known as "Tons ks mois" 

 or " Fecuh de Tolomane," and is remarkable for the great size 

 of its starch grains. No starch is prepared in India from 

 C. «>if//cr7, but its fruit and root are used medicinally by the natives. 



The flowers are sacred to Shiva and Purga, as is indic^uted by the 

 Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi names which are derived from the 

 ^Sanskrit Sarva-jaya "all conquoriug" (Shiva), and Kdmakshi, 

 a nam c of the goddess D urga. la the Di'-L Econ . Prod, of IndvJ, 



111.-57 



