STARCHES. 



N. 0. 234. MARANTACEJE. MAE ANTS. 

 Maranta ? 



Linn. Syst. Monandria Monogynia. 



The fecula of the tubers. 



Vernacular. 



Halitat. Burmah? 



Remarks. There is a plant largely cultivated at Kirkee by the Agri- 

 Horticultural Society of Western India, with tubers and starch indis- 

 tinguishable from the tubers and starch of Maranta arundinacea, Linn. 

 West Indian Arrow-root. It is not the West-Indian plant however, but 

 I believe M. ramosissima, with which however I cannot identify it, as no 

 description of that plant is accessible to me. The West Indian plant is 

 said to be cultivated in India by nearly every Anglo-Indian writer. Is 

 this true ? The Society's plant is said to have come originally from Cal- 

 cutta (Silhet ?). M. arundinacea was firet described by Martyn, and West 

 Indian Arrow-root was mentioned by Hughes in 1/51. 



N. O, 240. TACCACE^E. TACCADS. 

 Tacca pinnatifida. Rox. Salep Tacca. 



Linn. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia. 



The root ; and the fecula of the root, Tahiti Arrow-root, Otaheite 



Salep, Tacca starch. 



Vernacular. Kunda, Dec. Carachunay, Tarn. Chunda, Tel. 

 Halitat. The Concans, Malabar, Zanzibar, Eastern Archipelago. 



Remarks. The species of Tacca which yields the Tacca starch, actually 

 produced at Tahiti, and the other islands of the South Sea, is T. oceanica, 

 Nuttal. T. pinnatifida however yields an excellent starch, included under 

 the same commercial designation, and was until lately considered the 

 true Polynesian plant. 



N. O. 251. PALMJE. PALMS. 



Borassus flabelliformis. W. Fan-leaved Borassus. Palmyra. 



Linn. Syst. Dicecia Hexandria. 



The germ. 



Vernacular. Tata, Sans. Tat, Beng. Hind. Tarie, Hind. Tar, 

 Dec. Ampana, Carimpana, Mai. Panang-kulloo, Tarn. Putoo- 

 toadi, Tati-lndloo, Penty, Tel. Tal-gaha, Cey. Dom (Forskal), 

 Taji, Arab. Lontar, Malaya. 



Habitat. East Indies. 



Remarks. Crawford, Tennant, and other writers, state that the germ of 

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