750 



IND 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



IN D 



22. Indigofera Frutescens, 

 racemes axillary, peduncled 

 of the Cape. 



23. Indigofera Cytisoides 



Leaves pinnate, ovate, smooth; 

 stem shrubby, upright. Native 



Angular-stalked Indigo. Leaves 



quinate, pinnate, and ternate ; racemes axillary ; stem shrubby. 

 Standard of the corolla upright. It flowers in July. Native 

 of the Cape. 



24. Indigofera Fragrans. Leaves quinate, pinnate ; leaflets 

 ovate, hairy, the outmost larger; legumes four-cornered. 

 Stems round, somewhat hairy; leaflets hairy on both sides, 

 the end one obovate and larger than the others ; peduncles 

 longer than the leaf, axillary, bearing from three to five flow- 

 ers ; corollas red. Native of the East Indies. 



25. Indigofera Enneaphylla; Trailing Indigo. Leaves 

 pinnate, wedge-shaped, in sevens ; stem prostrate ; spikes 

 lateral. Plant depressed to the ground ; corolla dark purple, 

 with the bark of the standards paler, and recurved a little to 

 the horns of the keel ; seeds two. Native of the East Indies. 



26. Indigofera Semitrijuga. Leaves pinnate, obcordate, 

 in fives ; legumes subspiked, pendulous, torulose ; stem 

 prostrate, suffruticose. A small shrub, with round simple 

 branches, villose, hoary, as is the whole plant ; flowers some- 

 what remote, commonly from eleven to thirteen ; spikes axil- 

 lary, longer than the leaves. Native of the East Indies and 

 Arabia. 



27. Indigofera Pentaphylla; Five-leaved Indigo. Leaves 

 pinnate, oval, in fives; stems prostrate; peduncles two-flow- 

 ered; flowers red. Native place unknown. 



28. Indigofeia Glabra; Smooth Indigo. Leaves pinnate 

 and ternate, obovate; racemes very short; legumes horizon- 

 tal, columnar. Peduncles axillary, having frequently three 

 alternate flowers. It is an annual plant, with a smooth stein 

 and leaflets. Native of the East Indies. 



29. Indigofera Hirsuta; Hairy-leaved Indigo. Leaves 

 pinnate, hirsute ; stem upright ; flowers in spikes ; legumes 

 pendulous, woolly. Stem lofty, hairy ; spikes upright, longer 

 than the leaves, axillary, very hirsute. Native of the East 

 Indies. 



30. Indigofera Spicata ; Spiked Indigo. Leaves pinnate, 

 obovate ; flowers in spikes ; legumes columnar, torulose, 

 pendulous; stem decumbent. Stem herbaceous and villose; 

 spikes longer than the leaves, thrice the size when in fruit. 

 Native of Arabia. 



31. Indigofera Angustifolia; Narrow-leaved Indigo. Leaves 

 pinnate, linear ; racemes elongated ; stem shrubby. Stipules 

 acerose, minute ; corolla ash-coloured, purple on the outside; 

 keel with spurs. It flowers from June to October. Native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. 



31. Indigofera Anil ; Wild Indigo. Leaves pinnate, lan- 

 ceolate; racemes short ; stem suffruticose. This plant has the 

 habit and appearance of the next species. Mr. Miller says it 

 grows to the height of five or six feet, and that, being a much 

 larger plant, it will afford a greater quantity of Indigo from 

 the same compass of ground than any of the other species, 

 especially if cut before the stalks grow woody; and that it 

 will also grow on poorer land. Browne says it is a native of 

 the East Indies, and also very common in Jamaica, growing 

 wild in all the savannas, where it has undoubtedly been cul- 

 tivated in former times ; for there we often meet with some of 

 those Indigo works which were then used, remaining very 

 perfect to this day. This is the hardiest plant belonging to 

 the genus ; and grows very luxuriantly, even in the driest 

 savanna lands; but it does not yield the greatest quantity of 

 pulp : the dye, however, extracted from it, is generally the 

 best, of a fine copperish cast, and a close grain. 



33. Indigofera Tinctoria ; Dyer's Indigo. Leaves pinnate, 



obovate; racemes short; stems suffruticose. Branches like 

 the stem, alternate, upright; leaflets in four pairs or more, 

 very blunt with a point, smooth, very finely villose under- 

 neath, almost equal ; racemes from the axils of the leaves ; 

 legumes drooping, subcolumnar, sharp, straight, very finely 

 villose. Linneus says that it re almost an exotic in Ceylon, 

 but common in Paliacotta and Coromandel. According to 

 Loureiro, it is spontaneous in China and Cochin-china. Dr. 

 Patrick Browne, besides the Wild Indigo, mentions two other 

 sorts, which he calls the Indigo, and the Guatimala Indigo : 

 the first seldom above two feet and a half high, and seeming 

 to divide rather than to branch in its growth, yielding more 

 of the dye than any of the others, and generally preferred, 

 though subject to many more mischances : the second, com- 

 monly three or four feet high, throwing out many suberect 

 branches as it rises ; this is hardier than the former, and 

 affords a finer pulp, but yields a less quantity, and is only 

 cultivated where the seasons are certain, or in mixt fields. 

 The ancients were acquainted with the dye which we call 

 Indigo, under the name of Indicium. Pliny knew that it was 

 a preparation of a vegetable substance, though he was ill 

 informed both concerning the plant itself, and the process 

 by which it was prepared for use. From its colour, and the 

 country from which it was imported, some authors call it 

 Atrimentum Indicum, and Indicum Nigrum. The American 

 name is Nil, or Anil, from which the Portuguese have adopted 

 their Anil, or Anileira ; the other European nations generally 

 call it Indigo. The Arabian name is Nile; and the Chinese, 

 Tien Laam, or Sky Blue. The works for steeping and fer- 

 menting the Indigo in the West Indies, consist of three or five 

 square cisterns or vats, well cemented, terrassed, and seasoned. 

 They are made gradually smaller, and so situated as to have 

 the top of the second and third on a line with the bottom of 

 the first, or a little lower; and the top of the fourth and 

 fifth on a line with, or lower than, the bottom of the second 

 and third. The first is called the steeper, and is generally 

 made about eight or ten feet square, by four deep, and opens 

 into the second and third by round holes, made close to the 

 bottom, so as to discharge all the tincture readily. The 

 second, or second and third vats, are called the beaters. If 

 there be only one, and the liquor is to be worked up with 

 hand-buckets, it should be eight or ten feet square, and six 

 deep ; but if there be two, and the tincture is to be beaten 

 with an engine, they should be so deep as to hold all the 

 liquor a good way below the main or horizontal axis into 

 which the buckets are fixed ; and the walls should be nearly 

 as high over the rollers as the cistern is deep below them, to 

 prevent the wasting of the tincture. After the liquor is well 

 beaten, it is left to settle ; and when the pulp is deposited, the 

 clear fluid is drawn off by a vent placed some inches above 

 the bottom of each cistern: and the remainder is discharged 

 into the fourth and fifth cisterns, by convenient outlets placed 

 close to the bottom. These last cisterns are small, and are 

 generally made square, and proportioned to the quantity of 

 pulp such works commonly produce at a time. When the 

 works are in good order, and the plants cut and carried to 

 them, they are laid in the steeper; and when that is pretty 

 full, boards are laid over them supported by props, from the 

 beams that overlay the cistern : when these are well settled, 

 they pour in as much water as will cover the weed, and leave 

 it to digest and ferment until the greatest part of the pulp is 

 extracted, without letting the tender tops run to putrefaction ; 

 and in the management of this point, the judgment of the 

 planter chiefly consists ; for, if he draws off the water but 

 two hours too soon, he loses the greatest part of the pulp; 

 and if the fermentation runs but two hours too long, the 



