THE SWORD BEAN 



CANAVALIA 



ENSIFORMIS 



Makham-shim 



Torches. is used for torches. A sample of Assam resin, weighing over 13 lb., received 



by the Reporter on Economic Products as "a fairly average quality of the 

 Black Dammar " was sent to the Imperial Institute, London, for examination 

 and report. Dunstan replied that the results obtained " indicate that the 

 resin is of the dammar type although it differs to some extent from the black 

 dammar of commerce, stated to be derived from c. stritstitm, especially in 



Varnish. possessing lower acid and saponification values." Some varnish manufacturers 



to whom the resin had been supplied reported that it was suitable for the 



Enamel Paint. preparation of a hard drying varnish, such as is required for enamel paints, 

 though the dark colour of the resin would prejudice its sale and it was not likely 

 to fetch more than 18s. per cwt. 



GugalDhup. C. sikkimense, King, Journ. As, Soc. Beng., Ixii., pt. ii., 187;, is the 



gugal dhup, nar-ok-pa, etc. A very tall tree of Nepal and Sikkim the inner 

 valleys of the Eastern Himalaya up to altitudes of 3,000 feet. It yields a clear 

 amber-coloured brittle resin that is burnt in incense by the Lepchas. Dymock 

 (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1891, vi., 409) speaks of an amber-coloured resin 

 the incense (gokal-dhup) and he was thus doubtless speaking of this plant and 

 not of c. bengaieiise as he supposed, c. Hihifitnetine has of late years become 

 a scarce tree, due apparently to the demand for tea-box woods. The timber 

 is said not to warp but to decay rapidly. 



C. strictum, /?*&., Fl. Ind., iii., 138 ; Talbot, List. Trees, etc., 1902, 70. 

 The Black Dammar, gugul, kula-dammar, karapu kongiliam, karang kunthrikam, 

 kundrikam, manda dhup, raldhup, thelli, etc. A tall tree of Western and Southern 

 India from the Konkan southwards. When in young foliage it is almost crimson 

 and is in consequence very conspicuous on the Ghats, up to altitudes of 5,000 

 feet. It yields the resin known as the black dammar of South India. The 

 timber is worthless, and to obtain the resin the trees are fired. Vertical cuts are 

 made on the bark and a mass of brushwood thereafter fired around the base 



Collecting of the trunk. In about two years' time the dammar is said to begin to exude 



from the stem and to continue to flow for ten years afterwards, during the 

 months of April to November. This is collected in January and traded in all 

 over Southern and Western India, but owing to its high price is not much 

 exported. The supply comes chiefly from Travancore and the resin fetches 



Price. about Rs. 3 per 18 lb. It is employed in the manufacture of a bottling wax 



or for varnish, etc., and in medicine as a substitute for Burgundy pitch in the 

 manufacture of plasters. Full particulars of the chemical properties and medi- 

 cinal uses will be found in the Dictionary. The substance was examined and 

 reported on by the late Mr. Broughton. [Cf. King. Journ. As. Soc. Beng., 1893, 

 Ixii., 184-8, tt. 10-3 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 140-1 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres, 

 Bomb., i., 201-2 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees., 130.] 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 97. 

 Sword 

 Bean. 



French-beans. 



CANAVALIA ENSIFORMIS, DC. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 195 ; 

 Wight, Ic., iii., t. 753 ; Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, pt. iii., pi. 

 Ixxi ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., i., pt. ii., 372 ; Prain, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., 

 1897, 66, 418 ; also Beng. Plants, 1903, i., 394 ; Duthie, Fl Upper Gang. 

 Plain, i., 235 ; LEGUMINOS^E. The Sword Bean or " Overlook," sometimes 

 called Patagonian Bean, shimbi, Jcadsambal, meJchun, makham-shim, sem, 

 sufed-sem, tihon, abai, gavan, segapu, peh-naing-ni, etc. 



A perennial climber cultivated throughout India, from the Himalaya to 

 Ceylon and Siam, common in gardens or on the borders of fields and over the 

 roofs of huts. The young and half -grown pods constitute the so-called " French- 

 beans " of Europeans in India, but they are also eaten by the Natives, especially 

 in curry. Some five kinds, probably only races, are reported to be grown, of 

 which the form known as hilwa, a white narrow-podded condition, is considered 

 the best. The mature seeds are said to be eaten fairly extensively in Mysore and 

 in some parts of the Bombay Presidency. By the Muhammadans. here and there 

 all over India, they are appreciated as a vegetable and eaten along with meat, 

 especially that of the white-seeded form. There are three wild species, viz. 

 c. vtrosa, W. & A. (kath-shim, kola-shim), very plentiful throughout India and 

 by some writers regarded as the origin of the cultivated plant. It has been 

 reputed to be poisonous, c. n neat a, DC., a littoral species creeping along the 

 sand, and c. obtulfolia, DC, (c. ensiformls, uar. ttirgitla), & common cumber 

 along the banks of tidal creeks and rivers. 



248 



