ECONOMICAL USES OF PLANTS. 



99 



pus incisa, and the Artocarpus integrifolia. In preparing 

 for the table it is thrown directly on to the fire, when the 

 outside becomes charred, and the inside somewhat like a 

 fresh loaf of wheaten bread, having a general resemblance 

 to a roasted potato, and a slightly astringent taste, a 

 little like the yolk of an egg. Of the Bread-fruits, 

 Cocoanut and Banana fruits, many native dishes are com- 

 pounded, some of which are said to be excellent. Among 

 trees that yield substantial articles of food, the Date- 

 Palm and the Fig should not be forgotten. The Tama- 

 rind is the fruit of two species, of Tanjarindus, a lofty 

 and beautiful leguminous tree, cultivated for its fine 

 shadow in both the Indies, where also it is found native. 

 The well known Vanilla consists of the fragrant seeds of 

 Yanilla aromatica, a climbing vine, one of the splendid 

 orchideous parasites which invest the trees in the swampy 

 forests of Guiana. 



USES OF THE SEED. 



563. Foremost among these come the Cereal Grains, 

 which, in affording the basis of bread, are more valuable 

 in a dietetic point of view, than any other class of vege- 

 table products. It should here be understood, that 

 although these grains have been classed among fruits, 

 which they really are, yet their value as food depends 

 entirely upon the nutritive principles of the seed which 

 they inclose. Leguminous seeds, such as those of the 

 Bean and Pea, are also highly nutritive, and important 

 articles of diet. Starch from the Potato, Maize, and 

 Wheat, is extensively manufactured and employed in the 

 composition of various delicacies for the table. The 

 Nutmeg of commerce is the seed of a drupaceous fruit 

 found in a species of the Myristica, a fine tree of the East 

 Indies ; and the scarlet aril, or appendage to the seed, is 

 the substance known as Mace. The Oleaginous Seeds, 

 or those producing oils, are very important in the Arts, 

 and for many economical uses. The chief of these are 

 the seeds of the Walnut, which produce what is called 

 Nut-oil, the seeds of the Flax, which afford Linseed-oil, 

 those of the Palma-Christi, a native of the West Indies, 

 from which Castor-oil is made, and those of the Sun- 

 flower, which afford a substitute for Lamp-oil. 



564. There are many cases in which the whole plant 

 is useful ; and first among these come the Grasses, which 

 not only spread the earth with a beautiful green carpet, 

 but furnish food for herbivorous animals. The Iceland 

 Moss is a Lichen, which, from the gelatin it contains, is 

 much used in cookery; and so also, and for the same 

 reason, is the Carragheen Moss, an Alga found both in 

 this country and Europe. Archil is a purple dye ob- 



tained from two species of Lichen called Rocello, which 

 are found in the Canaries ; and Cudbear is also a product 

 of another Lichen, Lecanora, and yields a fine purple 

 color. 



565. SECRETIONS OF PLANTS AND THEIR USES. 

 These have been generally treated of in Chapter V., and 

 can barely be referred to now. Resins, Gums, Gum- 

 Resins, Balsams, and Wax, may be classed under one 

 general head, as exudations, and are extensively used in 

 Medicine and the Arts. Gum- Arabic and Gum-Senegal 

 are the product of two species of Acacia found in North- 

 ern Africa and Asia Minor ; Gum-Ladanum is an exuda- 

 tion on the leaves of a species of Cistus found in Turkey; 

 and Pitch, Tar, and Turpentine, which are so valuable in 

 the Arts, and for naval purposes, are resinous products 

 of the Pine tribe. India-Rubber is the inspissated juice 

 of several trees of the tropics, the chief of which is 

 Siphonia elastica ; and Gutta-percha is a similar product 

 of a fine tree of the Indian Archipelago. Dragons- 

 Blood is a kind of balsam flowing from the Dracaena, or 

 giant Dragon-tree of the African Isles ; and the Balm, 

 or Balsam of Gilead, is procured from the Amyris 

 Gileadensis, a plant of Syria. Wax is found in the tis- 

 sues of plants, and sometimes as an exudation on the 

 surface of the stem, as in the Wax-Palm, fig. 6, and of 

 the fruit, as in the Bayberry. The wax or tallow, as it 

 is most commonly called, of the latter, is used in the 

 manufacture of Soaps, Candles, and in the composition 

 of Salves. A Chinese tree, Stillingia, also furnishes 

 wax, from which the natives make candles. 



566. The milky juice of plants is often poisonous, 

 and is sometimes of a virulent character. Among those 

 which are distinguished by this peculiarity of the sap, 

 are the Spurge-worts, Nettle-worts, and Dog-bane tribes, 

 which afford the most terrible poisons known. The 

 dreadful Wourari poison is prepared from the milky juice 

 of Echites; while that of Strychnos and Jatropha fur- 

 nish the liquid in which the Indians of Guiana and the 

 Oronoco poison their arrows, investing them with such 

 deadly certainty, that the least grazing of the skin is 

 fatal ; but in many plants belonging to these very 

 poisonous tribes, the peculiar juices are not only harm- 

 less, but nutritious and wholesome. That of the Euphor- 

 bia balsamifera is similar to sweet rich milk ; and being 

 converted into a jelly by thickening, it is eaten as a great 

 delicacy by the inhabitants of the Canary Isles. In the 

 forests of British Guiana is found a tree, called by the 

 natives Hya-hya, whose pith and bark are completely 

 saturated with milk. This is of an agreeable flavor, 

 sweet and wholesome, and is taken by the savages as a 



