292 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1862. 



1862. Central Africa, whence its fruits are exported by way of Abyssinia 

 and Massowah. 



ROOT OF STATICE LATIFOLIA, Sm. Among the few drugs sent 

 from Russia to the Exhibition, are specimens of the thick woody 

 statice root of Statice latifolia, Sm. (St. coriaria, Pall.), which is remark- 

 latifoiia. a ki e f or j g com p ac t substance and large size, so unlike what is 

 usual in other species of Statice ; this root I have recognized to be 

 identical with that imported some years ago into Marseilles, and 

 described by M. Guibourt in his Histoire des Drogues, tome 2, 

 p. 416. With respect to its production and uses, I have been 

 favoured with the following remarks by Mr. George Peterson, 

 the Russian Commissioner of the Exhibition, who, as a member 

 of the Scientific Committee for the Crown Lands of Russia, has 

 the best opportunity for being correctly informed upon the subject. 

 The " Statice coriaria of Pallas," says he, " grows wild in the whole 

 prairie country of Southern Russia, known under the name of 

 steppes, that is, land without forests. I have myself during two 

 years travelled through this region, and seen roots of it of the 

 length of more than thirty feet and with a top diameter of four 

 and a half inches. The plant is also found in the north of the 

 Crimea and in the southern part of Bessarabia, but in general it is 

 more common in the eastern part of the prairie region near the 

 "Wolga, and to the east of this river. To dig out the roots is 

 very difficult, because the subsoil is hard and cannot be worked 

 with a pickaxe. The root penetrates the soil and subsoil in a 

 nearly perpendicular line ; the longest roots are discovered on 

 steep Sr'river-banks, which are underwashed each spring-time by 

 the swollen rivulets and also after heavy rains, the latter occur- 

 ring very seldom. A small number of tanners have begun to 

 employ the roots of Statice, but as the supply is precarious and 

 the leather tanned with them brittle, no progress is made in 

 utilizing this tanning material, which in more skilful hands has 

 proved one of the best, as, for instance, in Spain." [N. Repert. 

 f. Pharm. xi. 445.] 



