STAR OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 391 



stag's horn, long caused it to be looked upon as a ciinosity in 

 the plant world ; but it is now surpassed by its gigantic ally 

 P. grande, native of Queensland, the Pliilippine Islands, and 

 Malayan Peninsula. It is epiphytal. Its barren fronds may be 

 compared to large shells successively produced from a central 

 axis, the new overlapping the old, forming oblong masses of vari- 

 ous sizes according to age ; sometimes as much as 3 feet by 2, 

 and 2 to 3 feet in thickness. The fertile fronds rise from the 

 central axis to the length of 6 to 7 feet, repeatedly forked into 

 broad ribbon-like segments, and pendulous, the fructification 

 being produced m a round, lateral lobe, nearly a foot in diameter, 

 on one of the main divisions of the frond. It was introduced from 

 ^N'ew Holland into Kew in 1842, and fine specimens are now to 

 be found in the collections of many fern-cultivators. 



Star Apple {Chrysophyllum Cainito), a tree of the family 

 Sapotaceae, attaining a height of 30 to 40 feet, native of the 

 West Indies. It has spreading branches, and beautifully-veined 

 leaves, of a silvery white on the under side. The fruit is about 

 the size of an apple, and is wholesome, having an agreeable 

 sweet flavour. It consists of ten cells, each containing a single 

 seed, and when cut across (before the seeds harden) has a star- 

 like appearance, hence its name. It is an ornamental plant in 

 hothouses. 



Star of Bethlehem (OmitJiorjcdum umhcUatum). — This is 

 one of the Lily family (Liliaceai), native of different parts of 

 Europe and Western Asia, also of this country. Its flowers are 

 of a milky white, borne in umbels on a short stalk, and it is prob- 

 ably on this account that it has received the name Ornitlw- 

 galum, which literally means bird's milk. There is strong evi- 

 dence for believing, as I have shown in my History of Bible 

 Plants, that the bulbous root of this plant was the doves' dung 

 that was eaten by the people of Samaria, as stated in 2 Kings 

 vi. 25. 



Star Jelly. — N'ostoc commune and iV. edule, gelatinous crypto- 

 gams of the Conferva family, springing up often on gravel walks 

 after rain in round patches. JSf. cdide is wholesome, and in 



