MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. 235 



The leaves are long, feel rough, and are of a fine green 

 colour. Sometimes a tall, spiry, and grass-like panicle of 

 flowers appears, known by the name of arrows. The seeds 

 never come to perfection. The plant is propagated by lay- 

 ing a few joints of the cane in the earth.) 



78. Sesamum indicum. — Vanglo. 



The oil seed, or vanglo plant, was first introduced into 

 Jamaica by the Jews as an article of food. It is cultivated 

 in gardens and provision grounds. 



The plant is annual and herbaceous, rising to about three 

 feet. The flowers are numerous, white, and belono- to the 

 class Didynamia of Linn.*us. The pods are about the 

 thickness of one's little finger, and contain a great number of 

 small white seeds. 



In diet the Negroes boil this in soups and broths, instead 

 of flesh meat. The Jews, besides this, make cakes of it to 

 eat as bread. The expressed oil is as clear and sweet as oil 

 of almonds, and keeps better. The Behen's oil, so useful for 

 the finest varnish in coach painting, is probably no other than 

 that of the vanglo. The proportion of oil in this seed is 

 great, nine pounds yielding two pounds of oil. 



79. Smilax Sarsaparilla — Sarsaparilla Root. 



Several species of smilax have roots nearly similar : but 

 that from Honduras and Campechy is the best. 



This species has stems of the thickness of a man's finder: 

 they are jointed, triangular, and beset with crooked spines. 

 The leaves are alternate ; smooth and shining on the upper 

 side ; on the other side are three nerves or costse, with sundry 

 small crooked spines. The flower is yellow, mixed with red. 

 The fruit is a black berry, containing several brown seeds. 



Sarsaparilla delights in low, moist grounds, and near the 

 banks of rivers. The roots run superficially under the sur- 



