112 PHILIPPINE RESINS, GUMS, AND OILS 



and a diameter of about 45 centimeters. The leaves are alter- 

 nate and compound with three to seven leaflets, which are 

 smooth, pointed at the apex, usually rounded at the base, and 7 

 to 10 centimeters in length. The flowers are purplish, about 

 1.5 centimeters in length, and borne in racemes. The pods are 

 somewhat flattened, somewhat oval in outline, and with a single 

 seed. 



This species is distributed from northern Luzon to southern 

 Mindanao. 



Genus TAMARINDUS 

 TAMARINDUS INDICA L. TAMARIND OR Sampalok. 



TAMARIND-SEED OIL 



A description, figure, and the local names of this species are 

 given in the section on edible plants. 



Lewkowitsch * says that in famine times the seeds are univer- 

 sally eaten by the poorer classes of India, and that they yield 

 4.5 per cent of oil which has the following constants: 



Saponification value 183 



Iodine value 87.1 



Hefterf states that the seeds yield 15 per cent of oil. 

 According to Watt : J 



An oil of an amber colour, free of smell and sw^eet to the taste, is 

 prepared from the seeds by expression. This oil appears to have been 

 brought to notice for the first time in 1856, when a Captain Davies sent 

 a sample to the Agri. -Horticultural Society of India, with the remark 

 that it was, in his opinion, suitable for culinary purposes. The Society's 

 Sub-Committee reported favourably on the oil, and suggested that it 

 might be found useful in the preparation of varnishes and paints, as well 

 as for burning in lamps. A member of the Committee remarked that it 

 was occasionally employed in Bengal for making a varnish to paint idols, 

 and for finishing kurpa cloth, but that it was very little appreciated. 

 The Sub-Committee further noticed that the sample submitted to them 

 had an odour of linseed-oil, but Captain Davies explained that this was 

 not a property of the oil itself, but was due to the mill in which it had 

 been expressed, having been one ordinarily employed for making linseed- 

 oil (Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., Joum., 1885). The authors of the Phar^naco- 

 graphia Indica have examined it, and write, "Braunt states that the seeds 

 contain 20 per cent of a thickly fluid oil with an odour of linseed, and 

 classes it with the non-drying oils. By expression from the dry seeds, 

 we were unable to obtain any oil, and by solvents the yield was only 3.9 

 per cent. The oil possessed greater siccative properties than boiled linseed 

 oil." The subject appears to be well worthy of further investigation, 



* Lewkowitsch, J., Chemical technology and analysis of oils, fats, and 

 waxes, Volume 2 (1914), page 238. 



t Hefter, G., Technologie der Fette und Ole (1908), Volum.e 2, page 466. 



t Watt, G., Dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 6, Part 

 3 (1893), page 405. 



