134 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



Sumach is the Persian and Tartar name ; ^ rous, rhus, 

 the ancient name among the Greeks and Romans.^ 

 A proof of the persistence of certain common names is 

 found in the French " Currier's roux or roure.'' 



Khat, or Arab Tea — Gailia edulis, Forskal; Celastriis 

 edulis, Vahl. 



This shrub, belonging to the family of the Celastracece, 

 is largely cultivated in Abyssinia, under the name of 

 tchut or tchat, and in Arabia under that of cat or gat Its 

 leaves are chewed, when green, like those of the coca in 

 America, and they have the same exciting and strength- 

 ening properties. Those of uncultivated plants have a 

 stronger taste, and are even intoxicating. Botta saw 

 that in Yemen as much importance is attributed to the 

 cultivation of the Gatha as to that of coffee, and he 

 mentions that a sheik, who is obliged to receive many 

 visits of ceremony, bought as much as a hundred francs' 

 worth of leaves a day.^ In Abyssinia an infusion is 

 also made from the leaves.* In spite of the eagerness 

 with which stimulants are sought, this species has not 

 spread into the adjoining countries, such as Beluchistan, 

 Southern India, etc., where it might succeed. 



The Gatha is wild in Abyssinia,^ but has not yet been 

 found wild in Arabia. It is true that the interior of 

 the country is nearl}^ unknown to botanists. It cannot 

 be ascertained from Botta's account whether the wild 

 plants he mentions are wild and indigenous, or escaped 

 from cultivation and more or less naturalized. Perhaps 

 the Gatha was introduced from Abyssinia with the coffee 

 plant, which likewise has not been discovered wild in 

 Arabia. 



Mate — Hex paraguariensis, Saint-Hilaire. 



The inhabitants of Brazil and of Paraguay have em- 



* Nemnich, Polygl. Lexicon, ii. p. 1156 ; Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind.., i. 

 p. 414. 



* Fraas, Syn. Fl. Class., p. 85. 



' Forskal, Flora Mgypto-Arahica, p. 65 ; Richard, Tentamen Fl. Abyss., 

 i. p. 134, pi. 30 ; Botta, Archives du Museum, ii. p. 73. 



* Hochstetter, Flora, 1841, p. 663. 



' Schweinfurth and Ascherson, Aufzdhlung, p. 263; Oliver, Fl, 

 Trop. Afr., i. p. 364. 



