312 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES PAPER 



causing blisters to the skin, and is mucli dreaded. The fruit 

 is not eaten, and its flowers have a carrion-like odour. It has 

 some medical reputation as a remedy for enlargement of the 

 spleen, and is valued as a cure for intestinal worms. 



Paper. — For a notice of the plants that furnish the principal 

 material for paper-making, see Bamboo, Banana, Esparto Grass, 

 Flax, Indian Paper, Paper Mulberry, Straw, Papyrus, and Wood 



Paper. 



Paper Mulberry {Broussonetia im'pyrifero), a small tree of 

 the Mulberry family (Moraceae), from 20 to 30 feet high, with 

 rough, entire, or variously-lobed leaves. It is supposed to be 

 a native of China and Japan, where it is extensively culti- 

 vated for its bark, which is made into paper. It is also widely 

 spread throughout the islands of the Pacific Ocean, where the 

 bark is beaten out by the natives, and made into Tapa cloth, 

 which forms their cliief article of dress ; it is now, however, 

 being superseded by Manchester goods. 

 Paper Reed. {See, Papyrus.) 



Papyrus [Papyrus antiquorum, better known as Cypcrus 

 poipyriis), a strong -growing, perennial, rush -like plant of the 

 Cyperus family (Cyperaceae), supposed to be the Bulrush 

 of the Nile, of which the ark of the child Moses, as also 

 the vessels spoken of in Isaiah were made ; but it appears to 

 be of more ancient date, it being the plant from which the papyri 

 or paper was made, and upon which the records found in the 

 Egyptian tombs were written. It grows in the Lake of Galilee, 

 and other parts of Syria, and is " the paper reed by the brooks." 

 It has strong roots, or rather rhizomes, which grow in the mud, 

 and throw up smooth triangular stems 6 to 10 feet high, and 

 about an inch in diameter. The mode of making the paper 

 appears to have been very simple : the reed or stem was first 

 peeled, the pith cut lengthways into thin slices, which were laid 

 side by side, their edges touching one another. These were 

 then sprinkled with gummy water, or, as some say, with the thin 

 muddy water of the Nile ; a heavy press was then applied, and 

 thus the whole became united into one piece, of gi^eater length 



