DODDER OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 1-55 



yellow, large, and showy. Dillenia indica and I), j^^^ntafjyna 

 are common in India, attaining a height of 30 to 40 feet. 

 The leaves of JD. 2')entagyna are very large, averaging in old trees 

 from 1 to 2 feet long, and in young trees even longer. D. scahi^ella 

 is a smaller tree, and has very rough leaves, which are used 

 instead of sand-paper. The fruit of D. indica is about 3 inches 

 in diameter, consisting of the calyx, which is enlarged and 

 fleshy ; it is edible, but acid ; the natives in India use it in 

 curries or for making jelly, and the acid juice sweetened with 

 sugar forms a cooling drink. The wood is hard, and used for 

 making gun-stocks and the like. 



Diss, an Alo-erian name for the fibrous stems of a reed-like 

 grass (Ampelodesmos tenax), used for paper-making. 



Dita Bark, a name in India, especially about Bombay, for 

 the bark of Alstonia scJiolaris, a tree of the Dogbane family, 

 (Apocynacese). It is widely diffused throughout India and the 

 Malayan Islands ; it is a stiff-branched tree, attaining a height 

 of 50 to 80 feet, with a furrowed trunk ; it has oblong leaves, 3 

 to 6 inches long and 2 to 4 wide, produced in fours round the 

 branches. The bark is intensely bitter, and used by the natives 

 in bowel complaints, and its milky juice as a kind of gutta- 

 percha. It has recently been introduced into tliis country for 

 use in medicine. It is also called Devil's Tree. 



Divi-Divi [Cccscdpinia coriaria), a tree 20 to 30 feet high, 

 of the Bean family (Leguminosee), with compound-winged leaves, 

 native of the West Indies, Mexico, and many parts of South 

 America. It has tougli curved pods of a reddish-brown colour, 

 largely imported into this country for dyeing and tanning, under 

 the above name of Divi-Divi. 



Dock, a common name for different species of Rumex, a 

 genus of the PJiubarb family (Polygon aceee), of which there are 

 many species widely distributed over the northern hemisphere, 

 fifteen being natives of Britain. They are weedy plants, and 

 pests in cultivated ground. Two species are cultivated in 

 gardens. {See Sorrel.) 



Dodder, a common name for the species of Cuscuta, a genus 



