128 APPENDIX. 
MALVACEA. 
Althea lavatereefiora, Dd. 
Aitchison (Notes on Prod. of W. Afghanistan and N.-L. Persia, 
p- 9) notices it as a cultivated plant usually grown on the ridges 
between fields. It is grown not only for the showiness of its flowers, 
but for the petals, which are collected as they fall off the plant, and 
employed in local medicine or exported under the names of gul-i- 
khatmi or gul-khairu, The seeds are also collected and sold as 
tukm-t-khairu, and the roots as reshai-khatm?. We have received the 
flowers from Afghanistan, where they are used as a substitute for 
those of A. officinalis ; they are very mucilaginous, 
STERCULIACEZ, 
Heritiera littoralis, Dryand., Rheede, Hort. Mal. ri., t. 21. 
The seeds of this plant, common on the coast, have been substi- 
tuted for white Kola nuts, to which, when the chestnut coloured, 
papery, episperm has been removed, they bear some resemblance, 
but are a little larger and nearly orbicular, with a somewhat sinuous 
instead of an angular outline, Heritiera seeds are from(:010 m. to 
0015 m, thick, and have a diameter of about 0°04 m.; they are 
concave on one side and convex on the other, and are composed 
of two cotyledons, one of which is double the size of the other. 
Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen (Nouv, Remédes, 1887, p. 155) give 
the following as the composition of the almond :— 
On See we oe we oe ... 4366 
Tannin and colouring matter ne ae a OSS 
Sugar .. sis as fin os Fr et 
Sodium chloride Gi ct Ones Se ss. 0°288 
Cellulose and starch .,. ose nee whe sve: OO 987 
Albuminoids .,. ee set ne 
Lignin ose win “ see 
Fixed salts... Sas ae an th ace ena 
WOM eee aes poe ie obs wee 1089 
The ash contained traces of iron and manganese, and consisted 
chiefly of phosphates and sulphates of lime, potash, and soda, No 
caffeine was found. The seeds are eaten in India, and it is evident 
from the analysis that they have considerable alimentary value. 
