Nov. 1907.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 305 
Director of Agriculture, Cyprus, and from Professor W. R. 
Dunstan, Director of the Imperial Institute, London. The 
oil of origanum manufactured in Cyprus had been traced to 
this plant, which possessed some botanical interest. The 
plant had been lost sight of for a long time, and was clearly 
described by Willdenow in the “Species Plantarum,” vol. 111. 
p. 137. It is mentioned in Morison’s “Pl. Hist.,” vol. iii. 
p. 559, under the name Majorana hortensis odorata perennis, 
and was evidently known as a garden plant over two hundred 
years ago. It was remarkable that so distinct a plant should 
have gone out of cultivation, and that its name should be given 
in books as a synonym of the ordinary garden Marjoram, 
Origanum Majorana, Linn., which was an annual, whereas 
the Cyprus plant was perennial. The essential oil distilled 
from the plant had been examined in the Chemical Research 
Laboratory of the Imperial Institute, and was found to con- 
tain 82°5 per cent. of a phenol which had been identified as 
carvacrol, this being a higher percentage than that yielded 
by oil distilled from most species of origanum used in the 
manufacture of the commercial oil. 
On behalf of Mr. E. M. Houmgs, F.L.S., the President also 
exhibited the seeds of Sapiwm verwm, Hemsl., which yields 
the “ Virger” rubber of New Granada. 
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