98 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



will rise in favorable localities to a height of 12 feet, the edible trunk 

 attaining a considerable thickness, the leaves sometimes measuring 

 3 feet in length. In using the stem and root for food, great care is 

 needed, to expel all acridity by some heating process. Colocasia 

 odora and C. macrorrhiza seem varieties of this species. Several other 

 aroid plants deserve attention for test-culture on account of their 

 edible roots, among them Cyrtosperma edule (Seemann) from the Fiji- 

 Islands. 



Combretum butyraceum, Caruel. 



The Butter-tree of Caffraria and other parts of South-Eastern 

 Africa. The Caffirs call the fatty substance, obtained from this tree, 

 Chiquito. It is largely used by them as an admixture to their food, 

 and is also exported. It contains about one-quarter olein and three- 

 quarters margarin. This butter-like fat is extracted from the fruit, 

 and is of an aromatic flavor. The tree should be hardy in the warmer 

 and milder parts of extra-tropical countries. 



Comptonia asplenifolia, Solander. 



The Sweet-Fern of North- America. This dwarf shrub is perhaps 

 quite worthy of dissemination on sterile hills, as the foliage contains 

 nearly 10 per cent, of tannin; an extract of the leaves has come 

 into the tanning trade. The plant is also not without medicinal 

 value. 



Condalia mi.croph.ylla, Cavanilles. 



The Piquillin. Chili and Argentina. A bush, yielding sweet, 

 edible, succulent fruit. 



Conium maculatum, Linn. 



The Poison-Hemlock. Europe, Northern Africa, Northern and 

 Western Asia. A biennial herb, important for medicinal purposes. 

 It should however not be allowed to stray from its plantations, as it 

 is apt to be confounded with culinary species of Anthriscus, Chaero- 

 phyllum and Myrrhis, and may thus cause, as a most dangerous 

 plant, disastrous mistakes. Active principles: coniin in the fruit, 

 also conhydrin. The wild or naturalized plant best for therapeutic 

 use. 



Conopodium denudatum, Koch. 



Western Europe. The small tuberous roots of this herb, when boiled 

 or roasted, are available for food, and known as Earth-Chestnuts. 

 The plant is allied to Carum Bulbocastanum. 



Conospernmm Stcechadis, Endlicher. 



West-Australia. The question has arisen, whether this shrub, with 

 C. triplinervium (R. Brown), ought to be introduced into any desert- 

 country. All kinds of pasture-animals browse with avidity on the 

 long, tender and downy flower-stalks and spikes, without touching the 

 foliage, thus not destroying the plant by close cropping. 



