THK APRICOT 



PRUNUS 



Arm.- nmc- a 



in the betel-loaf houses and told apparently by the owners to the perfume manu- 

 fmturora. This may be, at leant partly, the patchouli of Bombay. Oilde- 

 meister and Hoffmann, at all event*, speak of the drug being hipped from both 

 t 'aU-ut ta mi.! H.. i. .Lay, hut of poor quality. From the difference* in chemical 

 compoHition they suspect that the Calcutta herb in the Assam plant (Jr. ***). 

 Thr HI mi buy plant, as suggested, may be derived from the pan-house cultivation, 

 but in that cose the supply must be very limited indeed. On the Oirnar hills. 

 Kutliiawar, I was shown a plant (f r-6<in ** <jrt*e*j*fw, 8**tn.) the 

 largo sticky and sweetly scented buds of which were being collected to be sent 

 to Bombay aa a perfume (T patchouli substitute). 



The following is the method of patchouli cultivation pursued in the BtraiU. Ouiuuoo. 

 The soil most suitable is a stiff clay with a small percentage of silica. The land 

 is trenched, the plants deposited in rows, 2 feet apart (during the wet season), 

 and carefully shaded till the first crop is obtained. Two other crops are secured 

 at intervals of six months, after which the plants are dug up and the land 

 retrenched and manured. The crop is gathered by cutting down all but one 

 stalk on each root, and placed to dry in the sun during the day and under cover 

 at night. The dried stems are then made up into bales and sold. Adulteration 



With the leaves of ruku (V+imuin Ha*iHcnin. Linn., oar. plloma) or with those of 



perpulut (I'rrnu lobnia) is said to be common. The oil is prepared by passing OIL 

 steam through the leaves in a large copper cylinder and condensing the distillate. 

 One piknl (133J Ib.) of the raw material yields from 24 to 30 oz. of the oil, and 

 if free from the heavier stalks, about double that amount. The oil is very 

 largely used in European perfumery. [Cf. Sawer, Odorography, 1892, 293-808 ; 

 Kew Butt., 1897, 65 ; Gildemeister and Hoffmann. Volatile Oils, 1900, 056-8 ; 

 Thorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1900, iii., 123 ; Schimmel & Co., Semi- Ann. Kept., 

 Oct.-Nov. 1905, 52 ; April-May 1906, 49-50.] 



PRUNUS, Linn.,- Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 312-7; Gamble, Man. Ind., 

 Timbs., 1902, 311-5; ROSACE&. A genus which contains some 21 

 species within the Indian limits, including the almond, peach, apricot, 

 plum and cherry. 



P. Amygdalus, Stokes. The Almond, bdddm, bildti-baddm, vddam-kottai, bddam- 

 vittitlu, etc. A moderate-sized tree, indigenous in Western Asia and occasionally 

 cultivated in Kashmir and the Panjab. 



There are two varieties, bitter and sweet, but these cannot be distinguished 

 botanically. The almond yields a GUM, the baddm or Hog-tragacanth, which is 

 exported from Persia to Bombay and re-exported to Europe, while from the 

 fruit are obtained two OILS, an essential and a fixed. The fixed oil is procured 

 by expression from the seeds of both varieties. It is clear, yellow, with an 

 agreeable flavour and is much used by perfumers, though frequently adulterated 

 with gingelly, poppy or mustard oils. The essential oil is got from the bitter 

 variety and is known as "oil of bitter almonds," but according to Gildemeister 

 and Hoffmann, " only a very small amount of the bitter-almond oil of commerce 

 is prepared from bitter almonds. For the manufacture of the oil, the seeds of 

 the apricot (P. amteniaea) serve almost exclusively, and the oil thus prepared 

 does not appear to differ in any respect from the oil obtained from bitter 

 almonds." It is produced by submitting bitter-almond or apricot cake, left 

 after expression of the fixed oil, to distillation with water, alone or mixed with 

 salt. MEDICINALLY the almond has been used in Europe for many centuries, 

 but is little esteemed in India. The kernels of the sweet varjety are largely used 

 in dessert and confectionery. [(?/. Bentham, Rev. of Targioni-Tozzetti, in Journ. 

 Hort. Soc., 1855, ix., 162 ; Pharmacog. Ind., i., 563-7 ; Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 

 Volatile Oils, 1900, 436-42.] 



P. armeniaca, Linn. The Apricot, Mishmus, or " Moon of the Faithful." 

 chuari, zardalu, khubani, paling, kushm-dru, galdam, iser, cherktuh, hari, nhiran, 

 mandata, nakhter, etc. A moderate-sized deciduous tree, cultivated in the 

 Western Himalaya, hardly ever ripening its fruit on the eastern section. Rox- 

 burgh and De Candolle, however, consider China its original home. Stein (Ancient 

 Khotan, 1907, 131, 337, etc.) says that the labourers employed by him, in his 

 excavations, identified the wood found in the houses, as also in the remains of 

 orchards, as being the unik (the apricot) a plant with which they were fully 

 conversant. This would fix its cultivation in ancient Khotan as at least prior 



905 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. L, 

 342-51. 



Almond. 



Gum. 

 TtxadOiL 



tUl Oil. 



Medicine. 

 Food. 



Apricot. 



