104 



VARIOUS FOOD-PLANTS 









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Fig. 112. — Garden rhubarb {Rheum Rhaponticum , Buckwheat Family, 

 Polygonaceas) . Plant in flower, X ^. (Vilmorin.) — A perennial herlj; 

 leaf-stalks often red ; flowers whitish ; fruit brown and dry. 



rich red tint and are ready for market. As will be seen from 

 the chart, cacao possesses a very high nutritive value. 



Starch in the particularly palatal)le forms known as sago 

 and tapioca, is obtained from certain tropical plants Avhich are 

 especially rich in this form of food. The best sago comes 

 principally from the spineless sago-palm, shown in Fig. 116. 

 When full grown the tree is felled and the trunk cut into 

 sections to facilitate the removal of the spongy pith-like 

 interior, which is gorged with starch. By repeated washings 

 the starch is separated from the indigestible material, and 

 is then finally dried and granulated into small pearl-like 

 masses for the market. A single tree will yield from four 

 hundred to six hundred pounds of sago. 



Tapioca is manufactured chiefly from the large fleshy roots 

 of the bitter cassava (Fig. 117). Curiously enough the starch 

 in these roots is associated with a milky juice which is de- 

 cidedly poisonous. The poison, however, is of such a nature 

 that it entirely disappears in the process of preparation. 



