BIOSCORINEM. 551 



and minute quantities of potassic carbonate, sodic chloride, 

 calcic sulphate, magnesic sulphate, and ferric, aluminic and 

 silicic oxides. {Ckem. News^ March 23^ 1883, p. 133.) 



DIOSCOEINE.E. 



This genus is of mucli importance as a source of food in 

 India, and some of fhe species are used medicinally on account 

 of tKeir acrid or bitter properties. lu Sanskrit they bear the 

 general name of alu, and the different species are distinguished 

 by prefixes, e.^., Madhvalu "sweet yam" {Dioscorea aculeata), 

 Pindalu "globose yam" {B. globosa), Eaktalu "red yam'' 

 [B. purpurea), &c. But the Sanskrit name ah is also applied 

 to other plants having tuberous roots, and it is therefore 

 difficult to say what the original meaning of the word may have 

 been. Bioscorea bulUfera in its wild state is extremely bitter ; 

 the small potato-like tubers on the vine dried and powdered are 

 used as a medicinal application to sores, and are given inter- 



:mi 



iU 



into a bolus with butter is given to check diarrhoea ; the roasted 

 tubers of the cultivated variety made into balls Mth ghf and 

 sugar-candy have a reputation as a remedy for piles : under 

 cultivation the plant loses its bitterness, and is much grown for 

 the tubers which are roasted and eaten. 



B. triphylla is very acrid, and its tubers are sometimes used 

 as a plaster to disperse swellings, 

 of this yam from Burma, where it is used as a poison ; when 

 taken internally it causes great irritation in the mouth and 

 throat, vomiting of blood, a sense of suffocation, drowsiness, and 

 exhaustion : and it is said that a piece of the tuber, the size of 

 an apple, is sufficient to cause death in six hours. Nevertheless 

 the Burmese use it as an article of food after it has been cut in 



We 



in 



The Burmese name is Choo-ay-oo. 



bears 



