VAI.l \M.I. SIIADK-TRKBS 



ERYTHROXYLON 



COCA 



I 



k,ii>ulc is but a Dutch name for the well-known aemal cotton the flow of 



iniif i-rniiioiiin ; ih.) floss of <./. >,,i,, ,, t IB far superior to that of Bom***, 

 inul t lie two must never be confused with each other. The bent qualities of Java 



.im sui<l ID fetch from Id. to 9d. per lb., the Indian not much more than 

 hulf th.'sf sums. I'll.- ilouhle profit of floas and oil-seed should make the cultiva- 

 tion nf /,;//. profitulilr in till hotter moist tracts of India that possess an inwulur 

 cliiMiito. The siiliji-rt is being vigorously taken up in both the French and 

 <:<nnan fi|,,nj,.s, and is well worthy of special consideration in India. [Cf. 



Delect. Rec. Govt. Ind., 1888, 329-39 ; Moodeen Sheriff, Mat. Med. Mad., 1891, 



.imeron, For. Trees Mysore andCoorg, 1894, 30-1 ; Morris, Kew Butt., 1896, 

 204-7 ; also Cantor Lect. in Soc. Arts, 1895, 897 et seq. ; Dodge, Useful Fibre 

 Plants of the World, 1897, 160 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 1902, 91-2 ; Talbot, 

 List Trees, etc., 1902, 40; Hannan, Textile Fibres of Comm., 1902, 71 ; Cooke, 

 Fl. I'res. Bomb., 1903, i., 121 ; Wiesner, Die. Rohst. des Pflanzenr., i., 264-6 ; 

 Perrot, Prod. Bombax et Kapok, in IS Agri. Prat, des Pays Chauds, 1905, v., pt. i., 



; Hanausek, Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 68, 368.] 



Kemal TVKM 

 Kapok. 



ERYTHRINA, Linn. : FL Br. Ind.,\i., 188-90; LEGUMINOS*:. 

 A genus of trees with prickly branches, large pinnate 3-foliate stipellate 

 non-glandular leaves and conspicuous racemes of papilionate flowers, 

 the petals being very unequal so that the standard is much the largest. 

 There are some seven or eight species indigenous to India and widely 

 niltiviited remote from their truly wild habitats. They are the CORAL 

 TREES (or Mochi-wood trees of Madras), the parijdta of the Sanskrit, and 

 their generic vernacular name is mandar or madar. 



E. Indies, Lamk. ; a native of Bengal near the sea, cultivated elsewhere ; is 

 the pdlitd-mandar, paringa, etc., and may be recognised by its blackish prickles. 

 Perhaps this is the species figured and described by Bontius (in Piso, Ind. Utri. 

 re Nat. et Med., 1658, 135) in 1629. E. lithosperma, Blume, is a native of Burma, 

 Java and the Philippine Islands. A favourite with some of the coffee planters. 

 It has large broad leaves and is often almost devoid of prickles. E. suberosa, 

 Roxb., is a native of the more interior tracts. It is characterised by having a thick 

 corky bark and is the pdngrd (or pdngdrd), mandal, muni, etc. 



These and other species have from the most ancient times been employed in 

 Indian agriculture as shade-trees and as supports for climbing plants. The belief Shade-trees. 

 is universal that they exercise a beneficial influence on the soil, though the ex- 

 planation of this circumstance, like the employment of clover in Europe, remained 

 inexplicable till the discovery had been made of the value of the root tubercles of 

 these plants in harbouring nitrogen-feeding bacteria. The following crops may Nitrogen 

 be mentioned as those specially noted in which these trees aroused .4 < palm Fixation. 

 (p. 84), offea (pp. 379, 383), Pepper-vine (p. 899), and Tea (p. 228). \Cf. Agri. 

 Journ. Ind., 1907, ii., pt. 1, 83.] 



ERYTHROXYLON, Linn. ; LINE.E. A genus of shrubs or 

 trees of about fifty species, natives of warm countries, six of which are 

 Indian. 



E. Coca, Lam. ; De Candolle, Orig. Cult. Plants, 1884, 135 ; Warden, D.E.P., 

 Erythroxylon grown in India, Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc., 1888, viii., n.s., 127-57; 1- a '~ ' 

 Hooker, ^Bot. Mag., 1894, 7334 ; Cat. des PL Econ. pour les Colon., "L'Hort. 

 Colon." 1900, 78 ; Rusby, Drugg. Circ. and Chem. Gaz., Nov. 1900 ; 

 Greenish, Pharmaceut. Journ., 1904, 493-6 ; Nicholls, Textbook Trop. Agri., 

 1892, 234-7 ; Heuzc, Les PL IndusL, 1895, iv., 251-5 ; Wright, Coca, 

 1907, 75, 109, etc. This is found in various parts of South America, 

 but according to De Candolle is indigenous only to Peru and Bolivia. 



Introduction Into India. The Coca plant was introduced into Ceylon from Introduc- 

 Kew in 1870. At a committee meeting of the Agri.-Horticultural Society of tion into 

 Madras in May, 1876, a letter was read from Mr. Joseph Stevenson in which he India. 

 suggested the propagation of the plant, in view of the probability of its becoming 

 an important article of commerce. No steps, however, were taken till 1885, 



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