333 



LXI.— A NEW OIL-SEED FROM SOUTH AMERICA. 



(OsteopJiloeum platysperrrmmj Warh.) 



Enid M. Jessox. 



At tlie present time, wLen vegetable fats are so largely in 

 demand, tlie discovery of a seed yielding over fifty per cent, of 

 fat, is likely to be of considerable commercial importance. The 

 seed in question is that of GsteophloeiiTn platyspermitmy Warb. 

 (Myristica platysperma, Spruce), a shipment of whicli was recently 

 received at Liverpool; the tree is a native of !N^orth-West Brazil, 

 where it was discovered by Spruce in 1852, in the forest near 

 Panure, on the river Uaupes, a tributary of the river Negro, 



Several members of the Myristicaceae are already well known 

 as yielding hard, usually yellowish fats, containing a large pro- 

 portion of the glyceride of myristic acid, and the present repre- 

 sentative is no exception to the rule — the fat obtained on extrac- 

 tion with petroleum ether being white and crystalline, and j^ossess- 

 ing a very slight smell. 55-2 per cent, of fat was obtained from 

 the kernels of this sample, the analytical constants of which are 



given below : 



Melting point 



Solidifying point 



Saponification value 



Iodine value (Wijs) ... 



Refractive index at 40^ C. (Zeiss Butyro- 



refractometer) 



* • 



• • 



ft « • 



• * 



43^ C, 



240-2 mmg. 

 6-3 per cent. 



36-9 



In addition to the above, the oil was found to j^ossess 5*3 pea' 

 cent* of free fatty acids (calculated as oleic acid). 



C 



Fig, 1. Whole fruit showing pericarp. Fig. 2. Seed showing middle layer 

 of testa. Fig. 3. Vertical section of seed, outer layer of testa removed, 



(a). Middle layer, (b). Inner layer, (c). Endosperm. 



All figures X 1|^. 



The fruits are globose or elliptic, about 2| cm. long and 1| cm. 

 bigbj and are either solitary or borne in small clusters on a short 

 pedicel, the dehiscence toldng place in the median plane, into 



