156 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Dioscorea tomentosa, Koenig. 



Ooyala-Yam. India. The nomenclature of some of the Asiatic 

 species requires further revision. 



Dioscorea trifida, Linne til. 



Central America. One of the yams there cultivated. Various 

 other tuberous Dioscoreaa occur in tropical countries, but their 

 respective degrees of hardiness, taste and yield are not recorded or 

 ascertained. The length of the warm season in many extra-tropical 

 countries is probably sufficient for ripening all these yams. Prof. 

 Philippi records 28 species from Chili, all therefore extra-tropic. 



Diospyros Ebenum, Koenig.* 



Ceylon, where it furnishes the best kind of Ebony-wood, occurring 

 also in southern continental India. It is not uncommon up to an 

 elevation of 5,000 feet in Ceylon, according to Dr. Thwaites ; 

 hence I would recommend this large and valuable tree for test- 

 plantations in warm extra-tropical lowlands forest-regions, where 

 also D. qugesita and D. oppositifolia, the best Calamaiider-trees, and 

 D. melanoxylon should be tried. Many other species of Diospyros 

 could probably be introduced from the mountains of various tropical 

 regions, either for the sake of their ebony-like wood or their fruit. 

 Black Ebony-wood sinks in water. The price in England ranges 

 from 8 to 20 per ton, from 700 to 1,000 tons being imported into 

 Britain annually for pianoforte-keys, the string-holders of musical 

 instruments, the fingerboard and tail-piece of violins, sharp note- 

 pieces of pianos, harmoniums and cabinet-organs, and other select 

 purposes. The following species, some of which may prove hardy, 

 yield Ebony-wood, according to Hiern: India D. Ebenum, Koen., 

 D. melanoxylon, Roxb., D. silvatica, Roxb., D. Gardner!, Tliw., 

 D. hirsuta, *L. fil., D. discolor, Willd., D. Embropteris, Thw. : D. 

 Ebenaster, Retz., D. montana, Roxb., D. insignis, Pers., D. Tupru, 

 Hamilt., D. truncata, Zoll., D. ramiflora, Wall; Africa D. Derido, 

 Welw., D., mespiliformis, Hochst. ; Mauritius D. tesselaria, Poiret; 

 Madagascar D. haplostylis, Boivin, D. microrhombus, Hiern. C. 

 B. Clarke enumerates for British India alone 59 species of Dios- 

 pyros. 



Diospyros HLaki, Linne fil.* 



The Date-plum or Persimmon of China and Japan, also Khasya, 

 Assam and Burma. A rather slow-growing' tree, hardy at Port 

 Phillip ; comes into bearing when about five years old. The fruit 

 is yellow, orange, pink or dark-purple, variable in size, but seldom 

 larger than an ordinary apple ; it can readily be dried on strings. 

 A hard and a soft variety occur. It has ripened as far north as 

 Philadelphia [Saunders]. The most famed varieties are, according 

 to the Rev. Mr. Loorins : Ronosan, Nihon, Micado, Daimaio, 

 Taikoon, Yamato, the latter particularly large and saccharine, and 

 with the Jogen-variety mostly used for drying. In Sydney the 



