206 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



34. Var. Bermilfaon. 



Vermilion. Yields also table-oil and resists cold well. 

 Many other apparently desirable varieties occur, among which 



the Italian Oliva d'Ogni Mese may be mentioned, which ripens 



fruits several times in the year, and furnishes a pleasant oil 



and also berries for preserves. 



Oncosperma fasciculatum, Thwaites. 



Ceylon. This Palm ascends there to 5,000 feet. The very 

 slender but prickly stem attains a height of 50 feet. 



Onobrychis sativa, Lamarck.* 



The Saintfoin, or Esparsette, or CockVhead Plant. South 

 and Middle Europe, Middle Asia. A deep-rooting perennial 

 fodder herb, fond of marly soil, and living in dry localities. 

 It is thus well adapted also for the limestone formation of 

 the lower Murray River. It prepares dry calcareous soil 

 also for cereal culture. Stagnant underground humidity is 

 fatal to this plant. It prospers still where Red Clover and 

 Lucerne no longer succeed. Sheep cannot be turned out so 

 well on young Saintfein fields as cattle. The hay is superior 

 even to that of Lucerne and Clover. The plant will hold out 

 from five to seven years (Langethal). 



Onosma Emodi, Bentham. 



(Maharanga Emodi, A. deCandolle). Nepal. The root, like 

 that of the Kanna tinctoria, produces a Ved dye. 



Opuntia coccinellifera, Miller. 



Mexico and West India. The Cochineal Cactus. On this 

 and O. Tuna, O. Hernandezii, and perhaps a few others, sub- 

 sists the Coccus, which offers the costly cochineal dye. Three 

 gatherings can be effected in the year. About 1,200 tons 

 used to be imported annually into Britain alone, and a good 

 deal also to other countries, valued at about 400 for the ton. 

 The precious carmin pigment is prepared from cochineal. 

 Different Cochineal Opuntias occur also in Argentina. Some 

 species of Opuntia will endure a temperature of 14 F. One 

 even advanced to 50 north latitude in Canada. Mr. Dickinson, 

 of Port Arlington, Victoria, observes that many species are 

 hardy in his neighbourhood, growing even in sand, over- 

 topping by 10 feet the Leptospermum laevigatum and breaking 

 it down by their great weight within a few yards of the 



