AKNOTTO DVK 



Dye. 



BCEHMERIA 

 NIVEA 



China-grass 



IM-I an ndmtral.1.- di.iuniL' showing tin- plant and a roucou factory. 

 Tin- pulp Mil-rounding the HHH!M gives a beautiful flesh-coloured DYE 

 |.ii_'.-l\ ii- -d fur >ilk8. In combination with the red powder of .wf// 

 ,,/,,/,/,;,..-...<. a bnuht orange-red colour is obtained. The dye is exported 



<ro pi- from tin- \Vi-M Indies to be used in colouring cheese, chocolate, etc. Cheese- 

 It IM,I> I ..... \trart.-d irom the seeds direct, or the pulpy matter may be c o lourin - 

 p.uatod by boiling and made into cakes the usual commercial form in 

 '!')>' cakea are \\rappfd in the leaves of the banana and known as 

 ',<itt'i. Tin- \\ . -t Indians are said to rub the pulp off in their hands, and 

 >v adding lomon-juire and gum make crimson paint for their bodies. The 

 ni ni|.l"\i-d with arnotto is usually crude pearl-ash : the alkali facilitates 

 .solution but affects the colour. The dye is fleeting and is chit-fly u-.-d for silk. 

 I. ut to some extent also for cotton-cloths, e.g. in Cachar. The Manipuris are said 

 i jivuil t hemselves of the fruits of uawiiiiu /< </n.i.-/i/ to deepen the colour 

 .f tlio silk after dyeing with arnotto and also to fix it. The latter suggestion 

 verification, since the dye is not as a rule considered fast. The bark yields 

 good FIBRE used for cordage in the West Indies. In MEDICINE the seeds are 

 l.-d iw astringent and febrifuge. The friction of two pieces of the wood is re- 

 jrted to produce fire very easily, and for this purpose is used by the West Indian .. 



The best Cayenne ("cake") arnotto fetches in France about 200 francs Prices of 

 r liK) kilos, and in Germany about 80 marks per 100 kilos. Its use has Dye-cake. 

 an ousted from India to a great extent by the introduction of aniline dyes, 

 and the demand is perhaps too small to encourage export. In the Toronto Ex- 

 hibition leaflet (1902) it is stated that the value of the exports from Jamaica in 

 1900 amounted to 5,800. From the London market reports for 1903 (in 

 irit. and Col. Drug. ; or Chem. and Drug.) it would appear that from 2d. to 4d. 

 9r Ib. is obtainable for best Madras seed, but that the demand is very limited. 

 It may be mentioned that the average production per acre is about 6 to 7 

 minis of seed yielding some 26 to 30 seers or rather under 1 cwt. of dye. [Cf. 

 Taylor, Topog. Stat, Dacca, 1840. 143; De Candolle, Orig. Cult. Plants (Engl. ed.), 

 1664, 401; Lawson, Pharm. Journ. and Trans., 1885-6, 645; Watt, Select. 

 Zc. Govt. Ind., 1888-9, i., 55; Pharmacog. Ind., i., 149; Kew. Bull., 1890, 

 Jo. 48 ; Ferguson, All about Aloe and Ramie, 1890, 54 ; Moodeen Sheriff, Mat. 

 Med. Mad., 1891, 38-9 ; Kanny Lall Dey, Indig. Drugs Ind., 1896, 47 ; 

 aorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1898, i., 173 ; Cat. des PI. Econ. Colon., " L'Hort. 

 Colon." Brussels, 1900, 44 ; Jackson, Pharmaceut. Journ., April 4, 1903 ; Bull. 

 -Jnian Agri. Caled., 1903, ix., No. 75, 6-7.] 



Fibre. 

 Medicine. 



BCEHMERIA NIVEA, Gaudich; R. niven, var.tetiacissinat, D.E.P., 

 Miquel ; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 576 ; Buch.-Ham., Stat. Ace., Dinaj., 194 ; Watt, i., 461-84 

 Rhea and Allied Rhea Fibres, in Select. Rec. Govt. Ind., 1888-9, i., pt. ii., 283 ; 

 Rein, Indust. Japan, 1889, 167-8 ; Michotte, Traite de la Ramie, 1891 ; 

 Hosie, Three Years in W. China, 1890. 73-4 ; Watt, Bcehmeria nivea grass. 

 Rhea and China Grass, Agri. Ledg., 1898, No. 15 ; Bretschneider, Hist. 

 Europ. Bot. Disc. China, 1898, 42, 99, 133, 495-6, 770 ; Wray, Ramie Cult, 

 in Perak, M.US. Notes, 1898, ii., 103-24 ; Barraclough, Ramie, Rhea, China- 

 grass, etc., in Text. Merc., (a series of articles), May 26 to June 16, 1900; 

 Der Tropenpflanzer, 1902, vi., 185-90 ; Frank Birdwood, Journ. Soc. Arts, 

 1904 ; Ramie, Dipl. and Cons. Rept., 1904, No. 3280, 54 ; Bothier, also Bigle 

 de Cardo, La Ramie, in V Agri. Prat, des Pays Chauds, 1902.-3, ii., 176-97 ; 

 1904, iv., 335-54 ; 1905, v., 56-67 ; Coventry, Rhea Exper. in India, Agri. 

 Journ. Ind., 1907, ii., pt. i., 1-14 ; Kew Bull, (numerous passages) ; 

 Hanausek, Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 90-1. 



It seems doubtful if the two forms indicated by the above-mentioned 

 names can be botanically regarded as anything more than climatic or 

 geographical races of one species. The practical value of their separate 

 recognition may however be accepted as at once demonstrated by the 

 circumstance that the one the China plant has been grown in the 

 open air in England and regularly sown as a field crop in the south of 



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