PLANTS YIELDING 



GUTTA-PERCHA 



Supply 



i Caoutchouc et leur Culture, 1902 ; Ktudet Colonial**, June 1902 ; Kept. 



Hot. Gdna. Penang, 1902; Imp. lint Hull.. | ; KombiirKl. 



,ioutchouc et Gutta-percha, 1903 ; Bull. Strait* and Fed. Malay State*, 19' 

 MJ. 307; Gamble, Gutta Percha Treet of th. 'enintuta, / 



I'.'nT, lno-21 ; Tschirch, Die Harze und die Hanbehalter, IW 



Muf. Guide, 1907, 138-9.] 



A feature of the gutta-percha trade in which India is much interested 

 is the possibility of some method being discovered by which the milkv 

 jiii.rs ot en-tain abundant plants might be transformed into u 

 substitutes. The following may be given as the gutta-percha-yi-, 

 plants, as also those that it would seem desirable should in future be 

 experimented with as gutta substitutes : 



Achras Sapota, Linn. ; SAPOTACE.E. The Sapota or Sapodilla tree. Is 

 largely cultivated in Bengal for its fruit ; yields the Mexican Chicle-gum. [<?/. 

 Joitrn. Atjri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 1844, Hi., 147; Jumelle, I.e., 1903, 521-3.] 



Alstonla scholarls, ft. Br. (see p. 60) ; APOCYNACE^E. The chatwan ; is believed 

 to be the source of guttapulei of Singapore. Hooper (Sept. Labor. Ind. Mu. t 

 1905-0, 29) found the latex to contain 45- 1 insol., 41*8 resin and 13'1 ash. [C/. 

 Mnnsun, I.e. 82.] 



Bassla Mottleyana, De Vriese : SAPOTACE.S. A tree of Malacca and Borneo 

 known as the kotian. The milk of this tree is regarded as an inferior quality 

 of gutta-percha. Hooper (I.e., 1905-6, 27) says three samples of the milk of 

 it. lon/oiiti from Hoshangabad showed on the average 48'9 gutta, 38'8 resin and 

 12'3 per cent. ash. It was light grey, plastic, but the yield per tree small. A 

 sample from Tinnevelly of a. longifoiin afforded 22'6 gutta, 62*7 resin and 14'7 

 per cent, ash (see pp. 116-20). 



Calotropis glgantea and C. procera, R. Br, (see pp. 205-6); ASCLEPIADE.E. 

 The madar or akanda, abundant bushes all over India, have often been suggested 

 as capable of affording a limitless quantity of milky sap. Whether that could 

 be utilised profitably has not been definitely ascertained. Over the greater part 

 of the Upper, Western and Central Provinces of India they cover many thousand 

 square miles of waste land, and tho utilisation of that herbage would be of infinite 

 value to the people. [C/. Manson, I.e. 87.] 



Euphorbia nerilfolia, Linn. , EUPHOKBIACE.*: (see p. 530). 



E. Royleana, Boiss. (see p. 531). 



E. Tlrucalll, Linn, (see p. 531). 



E. trlgona, Haworth the katti-mandu. This shrub yields the cement 

 kattimandu, often spoken of in connection with South India and the Deccan. 

 It was specially recommended by Sir Walter Elliot in 1851. 



Mimusops Kaukl, Linn. , Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 549 ; SAPOTACE^E. Is closely 

 allied to if distinct from M. Baiatn, Gaertn., f. a tree native in Guiana, 

 Honduras and Brazil which affords a gum that is one of the best substitutes for 

 gutta-percha (Jumelle, I.e., 1903, 493-517). No effort appears to have been 

 made to discover whether any of the Indian species might similarly be of value. 

 Other species are M. !:/?/. Linn. the Deccan to Malay Peninsula; x. !{- 

 im i-iiii in mi. Wight South India; and .if. /!. mf<-, Roxb. Deccan and Ceylon. 

 But Gamble (I.e. 117) says that neither .v. Kirny! nor M. Knukt are in India 

 known to yield gutta-percha. [Cf. Manson, I.e. 78.] 



Palaquium elllpticum, Engl., Pflanzenr., iv., i., 135 ; Bosnia elliptica, Da/:. : 

 Dichopsis elliptica, Benth. ; Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 542 ; Palaquium, Brandis, Ind. 

 Trees, 424-5 ; Manson, I.e. 77 ; Jumelle, I.e., 1903 457-85 ; SAPOTACE.B. 

 This is' the pauchoti, pauchonta, kat illupei, pala illupei, etc. A large tree of 

 the Western Ghats from N. Kanara southwards. It affords an inferior grade of 

 gutta-percha, which is collected by tapping the living trees. Gamble adds, " but 

 although this substance can be utilised for waterproofing and cement it is not a 

 complete substitute for the proper article." 



P. Gutta, Burch, in Ann. Jard. Buitz., 1885, v., 40; Dichopeis Gutta, Benth. 

 <b Hook., /., in Gen. PL, ii., 658; Gamble, I.e. 113-21. A tree of the Straits 

 Settlements and Malay Archipelago, where it is known as taban merah (in Perak), 

 niato balam tembaga (or abang) in Sumatra, and is the source of the finer grades of 

 the gutta-percha of commerce. But there would appear to be many qualities of 

 the gutta obtained from this plant, some of which are apparently the produce 

 of distinct varieties, others the results of different methods of preparation, and 



627 



D.E.P. 

 i., 80. 



D.E.P., 

 v., 252-3. 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 102-3. 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 103-4. 



