164 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



four times as much, not counting large quantities consumed by the 

 aboriginal race. It is cheaper than coffee or tea (about 5d. per 

 pound,), and an individual there uses about 1 Ib. per week. It has 

 a pleasant aroma, can be taken with milk and sugar, and is the 

 favourite beverage in large portions of South America (Dr. Macedo 

 Soares). The leaves destined for the Mate are slightly roasted. 

 I. Dahoon and I dipyrena are used for the same purpose, and 

 probably other hollies may be found equally good. I theezans, 

 Martius, yields in South Brazil also a kind of Mate. Chemical 

 principles : coffein, quina acid, and a peculiar tannic acid, which 

 latter can be converted into viridin acid. 



Illicium anisatum, Linne. 



China and Japan. The Star Anis. An evergreen shrub or small 

 tree. The starry fruits used in medicine and as a condiment. Their 

 flavour is derived from a peculiar volatile oil with anethol. This 

 species and a few others deserve culture also as ornamental bushes. 



Imperata arundinacea, Cyrillo. 



South Europe, North Africa, South and East Asia, Australia. The 

 Lalong Grass of India. Almost a sugar-cane in miniature. Valu- 

 able for binding sand, especially in wet localities. Difficult to 

 eradicate. 



Indigofera Anil, Linne. 



Recorded as indigenous to West India, and as extending naturally 

 through continental America from Carolina to Brazil. A shrub 

 several feet high. Pods sickle-shaped, short, compressed. One of 

 the principal Indigo plants under cultivation both in the eastern 

 and western hemispheres. Only in the warmer parts of the tem- 

 perate zone can we hope to produce indigo with .remunerative 

 success. But many of the hardier species seem never yet to have 

 been tested for pigment. One hundred and fourteen have already 

 been recorded from extra-tropical Southern Africa alone. An 

 Indigofera of Georgia, said to be wild, perhaps I. Anil, yields an 

 excellent product. The pigment in all instances is obtained by 

 maceration of the foliage, aeration of the liquid, and inspissation of 

 the sediment. 



Indigofera argent ea, Linne. (/. cwmdea, Roxburgh.) 



Tropical and extra-tropical Northern Africa, Arabia, India. A 

 shrub several feet high, closely allied to I. Anil, and likewise a 

 good Indigo plant. 



Indigofera tinctoria, Linne.* 



Warmest parts of Asia, as far east as Japan ; recorded also from 

 tropical Africa and even Natal. A shrubby plant, attaining a 



