352 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES RICE 



from whence, as well as from India, large quantities are im- 

 ported into this country. It is the principal food of the native 

 population of India, and in its unhusked state is known by the 

 name of Paddy. In dry seasons the crop often fails and leads to 

 famine, of which there have been several instances in late years. 

 Eice was not known in Western Asia and Egypt in early times, 

 but it is now extensively cultivated, as also in Italy. 



Rice, Canadian. {Sec Canadian Pace.) 



Rice, Hungary {Pasjmlum exile), a stout-growing grass of 

 the Panicum section. Its flowers are produced in a simple, com- 

 pact raceme, about as thick and as long as the finger. The 

 grains are small, like millet. Cultivated in Hungary. 



Rice Paper. — It might be supposed that the beautiful sub- 

 stance called Eice Paper Avas made of some part of the Eice 

 plant, but such is not the case ; the name is quite misleading. 

 It was early ascertained to be a vegetable substance, but the 

 plant producing it was long unknown to botanists, and on 

 inquiry being made respecting it, fanciful figures and descrip- 

 tions were given of it by the Chinese. Not long after the 

 commerce of China was opened to Europe' it was ascertained 

 that it came from the Island of Formosa, which led Sir John 

 Bowring, then Governor of Hong-Kong, to obtain plants of 

 it from that island, one of which arrived safely at Kew in 

 1853, and flowered in 1855. From this it was proved to be 

 Aralia 2^ct2Jy7nfera, now known as Fatsia faipyrifera. It is a 

 small tree of the Ivy family (Araliacese), attaining a height 

 of 10 to 12 feet, with a stem 3 to 4 inches in diameter, the in- 

 terior being full of white pith like that of the elder. It has 

 soft downy palmate leaves, something like those of the plane 

 tree, growing on long foot-stalks, and produces a somewhat erect 

 panicled raceme of small flowers. The tree is cut down in 

 order to obtain the pith, which averages, according to size, about 

 1 inch in diameter. It is divided into pieces about 3 inches in 

 length, and by the aid of a lath and the use of a sharp instru- 

 ment is cut into very thin rolls, and then becomes Eice Paper. It 

 is extensively used by the Chinese for drawing figures of plants 



