118 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



Datisca cannabina, Linne. 



From Greece to Upper India. A perennial herb of medicinal 

 value; the stems furnish a strong textile fibre; the leaves and roots 

 yield a superior yellow dye. 



Daucus Carota, Linn. 



The Carrot. Europe, North-Africa, extra-tropical Asia, east to 

 Japan. Biennial. Admits of naturalization along shores. In 

 Norway it is grown to lat. 70 22' (Schuebeler). Beyond the 

 ordinary culinary utilization it serves for the distillation of a peculiar 

 oil. Large-rooted varieties as well as the herb give a good admixture 

 to stable-fodder. Carrot-treacle can also be prepared from the root. 

 Requires lime in the soil for its prolific culture. The chemical 

 substances carotin and hydrocarotin are derived from it. Mess. 

 Dippe in Ouedlinburg keep about 130 acres under culture merely 

 for carrot-seeds. They will retain their vitality for a few years 

 ordinarily preserved. 



Debregeasia edulis, Weddell. 



The Janatsi or Teon-itsigo of Japan. Berries of this bush edible; 

 fibre valuable for textile fabrics. A few Indian species, with fibre 

 resembling that of Boehmeria, ascend the Himalayas for several 

 thousand feet, and may therefore be very hardy namely: D. velu- 

 tina, D. Wallichiana, D. hypoleuca. The latter extends to Abyssinia r 

 where it has been noticed at elevations of 8,000 feet. D. dichotoma 

 occurs on mountains in Java. 



Decaisnea insignis, J. Hooker and Thomson. (Slacked insignis, Griffith.) 



Himalaya at 6,000 to 10,000 feet elevation. This showy shrub or 

 miniature-tree produces fruit full of juicy pulp of pleasant sweetness. 



Dendrocalamus giganteus, Munro. 



Malacca and the adjacent islands. Habit of Grigantochloa maxima; 

 therefore one of the mightiest of all Bamboos. It continues constantly 

 to add stems from its root, several hundred sometimes belonging to 

 the same tuft. Stems reach a height of 100 feet and a circumference 

 of 33 inches; the joints are occasionally as much as 18 inches wide 

 and the walls an inch thick (Dr. Trimen). Locally much used for 

 rural buildings, furnishing posts, rafters, flooring material and shingles 

 (Brandis). Buckets and many other domestic utensils are readily 

 made of this Bamboo. The equally gigantic Dendrocalamus Bran- 

 disii (Bambusa Brandisii) of British Burrnah has internodes some- 

 times over 1 foot long, and ligneous substance of over 1 inch thickness. 

 Deciticus of Burmah attains a height of 30 feet, and ascends to 

 3,000 feet (Kurz). 



Dendrocalamus longispathus, Kurz. 



British Burmah, where with D. calostachyus (Kurz) it ascends to 

 about 3,500 feet; the former rises to a height of 60 feet. D. mem- 

 branaceus (Kurz) attains there nearly the same height. 



