124 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



Diospyros Virginiana, 



The North- American Ebony or Parsimon or Persimmon, indigen- 

 ously restricted to the South-Eastern States. A tree, reaching 70 feet 

 in height, sends suckers up from the roots. Wood heavy, very 

 hard, blackish or brownish, valuable for shuttles instead of box- wood. 

 (Jos. Gardner); for turnery, also shoe-lasts (Sargent); for shafts one 

 of the very best (Michaux). The stem exudes a kind of gum. The 

 sweet variety yields a good table-fruit. Ripens fruit to 41 North in 

 Illinois (Bryant). Hot summers promote the early ripening and 

 sweetness of the fruit, the delicious taste not alone depending on early 

 frost. The final sweetness depends upon chemical decomposition. 

 The flowers yield honey. The species is of very close affinity to D. 

 Lotus, as remarked by A. Gray, and endures the clime of Northern 

 Germany also. 



Diplothemimn campestre, Martins. 



Southern Brazil. A dwarf Palm of dry regions. The sweetish 

 pulpy outer covering of the small fruits is edible. 



Diposis Bulbocastanum, De Candolle. 



Chili. The tubers of this perennial herb are edible (Philippi). 



Dipsacus fullonum, Linne. 



Fuller's Teasel. Middle Asia. A tall biennal herb. The thorny 

 fruit-heads are used for fulling in cloth-factories. The import into 

 England during one of the last years was valued at 5,000. The 

 plant is most easily reared. The use of these teasels has not yet 

 been superseded by any adequate machinery. The young leaves can 

 be used as food for silkworms (Thorburn). The flowers are rich in 

 nectar for honey (A. J. Cook), which is of excellent quality 

 (Quinby). 



Dirca palustris, Linne. 



Eastern States of North- America, extending to Canada. An orna- 

 mental forest-shrub, the tough bark of which is serviceable for straps 

 and whipcords. 



Distichlis maritima, Rafinesqtie. (Festuca distichophytta, J. Hooker.) 



North- and South- America, extra-tropical Australia. This dwarf 

 creeping Grass is of great value for binding soil in arid places, forming 

 rough lawns, edging garden-plots and covering coast-sand. 



Dolichos gibbosus, Thunberg. 



South- Africa. This woody climber is one of the most eligible for 

 covering rustic buildings with a close and almost ever-flowering 

 vegetation. 



Dolichos Lablab, Linne". 



India, probably from thence only spread widely through the tropics. 

 An annual herb, sometimes lasting through several years, cultivated 

 up to 7,000 feet in the Himalayas ; ripening its fruit at Port Phillip. 



