TAMARINDUS 



TAMARIX 



3307 



nate; Ifts. 20-40, opposite, oblong, J^-%in. long, gla- 

 brescent, soft, pale green, obtuse: fls. few together in 

 lax racemes, individually about 1 in. broad, pale yellow, 

 the petals veined red; calyx-teeth lanceolate, the lowest 

 2 connate: pod 3^8 in. long, %-l in. broad, cinnamon- 

 brown, with a brittle epicarp and brown pulp inclosing 

 1-12 seeds. Flowers in April and May in the northern 

 hemisphere, ripening fr. in late autumn and winter. 

 B.M. 4563 (as T.officinalis). J.F. 2: 133 The tamarind 

 is a magnificent evergreen tree, extensively cult, in 

 nearly all tropical countries. It succeeds in S. Fla., and 

 has been grown as far north as Manatee, where a large 

 specimen was killed by the freeze of 1884. It is not 

 sufficiently hardy to be grown in Calif., failure having 

 attended all past efforts to cult, it in that state, so far 

 as known. It delights in a deep alluvial soil and abun- 



3768. The tamarind, Tama- 

 rindus indica. Short-podded or 

 West India form. ( X H) 



dant rainfall, the largest specimens being found in 

 tropical regions where the soil is rich and deep. On 

 the shallow soils of S. E. Fla. it does not attain to 

 great size. When small it is very susceptible to frost, 

 but when mature it will probably withstand tempera- 

 tures as low as 28-30 F. without injury. 



The plump slightly curved pod has a thin brittle 

 shell. It contains a soft brownish pulp transversed by 

 a few strong branched fibers; the large flattened glossy 

 seeds, varying from one to twelve in number, are sur- 

 rounded by a thin tough membrane. The pulp con- 

 tains sugar together with acetic, tartaric and citric 

 acids, the acids being combined, for the most part, with 

 potash. In East Indian tamarinds, according to Dymock 

 (Pharm. Ind. pt. II, 532-36) citric acid is present in a 

 small quantity, about 4 per cent, while there is about 9 

 per cent of tartaric. The pulp is widely used in the 

 Orient as an ingredient in chutnies and curries, and for 

 pickling fish. In medicine, it is valued by the Hindus as 



a refrigerant, digestive, carminative, laxative, and 

 antiscorbutic, for which latter purpose it is sometimes 

 used in place of lime juice. With the addition of sugar 

 and water, it makes a cooling drink or refresco, espe- 

 cially well known in Latin America. For the prepara- 

 tion of this drink, a sirup is often made from the pulp 

 which can be bottled and used as desired. In some 

 countries tamarinds are an important article of export. 

 In Jamaica the fruit is prepared for shipment by strip- 

 ping it of its outer shell, and then packing it in casks, 

 with alternate layers of coarse sugar. When the cask 

 is nearly full, boiling sirup is poured over all, after which 

 the cask is headed up. In the Orient, the pulp, con- 

 taining the seeds, is pressed into large cakes, which are 

 packed for shipment in sacks made from palm leaves. 

 This product is a familiar sight in the bazaars. It 

 seems to be greatly esteemed as an article of diet by 

 the Indians, as also by the Arabs, large quantities 

 being shippea to Arabia from India. 



According to Watt, the natives of India have an 

 aversion to sleeping under the shade of the tree because 

 of the supposed acid exhalation from the leaves. Pittier 

 states, however, that he has slept under a tamarind 

 tree for weeks without suffering the least inconvenience. 

 Gamble writes that the leaves corrode the cloth of 

 tents pitched in the shade of the tree. This happens, he 

 says, in wet weather; the leaves fall on the tents, and 

 within a day or two the cloth is decomposed in holes. 



The tree is easily propagated by means of seeds, 

 which is the only method commonly used. Seeds can 

 be transported without difficulty, as they retain their 

 viability for a considerable length of tune if kept dry. 

 They are best germinated by planting them K inch 

 deep in light, sandy loam. The young plants are 

 rather delicate and must be handled carefully to pre- 

 vent damping-off . In India, the yield of a mature tree 

 is said to be about 350 pounds of fruit per annum. Little 

 is known of the insect pests which attack the tree; 

 Maxwell-Lefroy mentions two, Caryoba/rus gonagra, a 

 large gray-brown chrysomelid beetle found in tamarind 

 seeds, and Charaxes fabius, a large black yellow-epotted 

 butterfly whose laryse feed on the leaves. Both these 

 insects occur in India. 



Firminger mentions three varieties of tamarind grown 

 in India, but does not know whether they can be 

 depended on to come true from seed. Masters, in the 

 ''Treasury of Botany," states that the East Indian 

 variety has long pods, with six to twelve seeds, while 

 the West Indian variety has shorter pods, containing 

 one to four seeds. Seedlings undoubtedly show con- 

 siderable variation in the size and quality of their 

 fruit, which accounts for the different varieties which 

 have been noted by many writers. Firminger recom- 

 mends that seedlings which produce unusually choice 

 fruit be propagated by gootee, or stem-layering, a 

 method which is described under Litchi. More 

 recently (1913) Wester has reported that the tree can 

 be shield-budded successfully the method being similar 

 to that used with avocado. F. w. POPENOE. 



TAMARISK: Tamarix. 



TAMARIX (ancient Latin name). Tamaricacex. 

 TAMARISK. Ornamental woody plants, grown chiefly 

 for their showy panicles or racemes of pink or whitish 

 flowers; and also for their very fine graceful foliage. 



Deciduous shrubs or trees: Ivs. alternate, sessile, 

 often sheathing, small, and scale-like: fls. small, short- 

 pedicelled or sessile, in rather dense racemes, usually 

 collected into terminal panicles; sepals and petals 4-5; 

 stamens usually 4-5, rarely 8-12, sometimes slightly 

 connate at the base; ovary 1-celled, surrounded at the 

 base by a more or less deeply 5- or 10-lobed disk; styles 

 2-5, clavate or short and thick: fr. a caps., dehiscent into 

 3-5 valves; seeds many, minute, with a tuft of hairs at 

 the apex. About 75 species from the Medit. region to 



