120 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



sapotaceous trees, including some Australian, could be worked for 

 Gutta-Percha. Of this article 62,000 cwt. were introduced into Great 

 Britain in 1884, valued at 462,000, of which quantity this Dichopsis 

 must have supplied a large proportion. Pierre, after the indications 

 of Bentham, adopts the generic name Palaguium, and adds as Gutta- 

 Percha yielding Dichopsis Malaccensis, D. Oxleyana, D. formosa. D. 

 princeps and D. Borneensis, all previously undescribed species, either 

 from Malacca or Sumatra or Borneo (see Bulletin mens. de la Soc. 

 Linn, de Paris, Juin 1885). 



Dicksonia Billardierii, F. v. Mueller. (D. antarctica, La Billardiere ; 

 Cibotium Billardierii, Kaulfuss.) 



South-Eastern Australia, New Zealand. This tree-fern is men- 

 tioned here, as it is the very best for distant transmission, and endures 

 some frost. It attains a height of 40 feet. Hardy in the Island 

 of Arran with D. squarrosa and Cyathea medullaris (Rev. D. Lands- 

 borough). This species above all others should be dissemin- 

 ated in warmer extra-tropical countries, thus with us in West- 

 Australia. Important also as commercial plants among fern-trees are 

 Cyathea medullaris, of South-Eastern Australia and New Zealand; 

 Cyathea dealbata, the Silvery Tree-fern and C. Smithii, from New 

 Zealand only; because when upgrown their shipment is not attended 

 with the same difficulty as that of the tall Alsophila Australis 

 (which attains 60 feet) and numerous other tree-ferns, about 200 

 species of which are now known. Those mentioned are among the 

 hardiest of this noble kind of plants. Anthelmintic properties, which 

 may exist in these and many other ferns, have not yet been searched 

 for. The dust-like spores should be scattered through moist forest- 

 valleys, to ensure new supplies of these superb forms of vegetation for 

 the next century. D. Billardierii is nowhere antarctic. 



Digitalis purpurea, Dodoens. 



The Foxglove. Western Europe. A biennial and exceedingly 

 beautiful herb of great medicinal value, easily raised. In Norway it 

 grows to lat. 63 52' (Schuebeler). Chemical principles : digitalin, 

 digitaletin and three peculiar acids (Wittstein). 



Dimochloa Andamanica, Kurz. 



Andamans. A scandent Bamboo, rising to fully 100 feet. Should 

 be of particular value for scenic culture. D. Tjankorreh (Buese) 

 extends from Java to the Philippines, ascends to 4,000 feet elevation, 

 but is not so tall as the other species. 



Dioscorea aculeata, Linne".* 



The Kaawi-Yam. India, Cochin-China, South- Sea Islands. Stem 

 prickly, as the name implies, not angular. Leaves alternate, un- 

 divided. It ripens later than the following species, and requires no 

 reeds for staking. It is propagated from small tubers. This yam is 

 of a sweetish taste, and the late Dr. Seemann regarded it as one of 



