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produces tliat wliicli is most esteemed ; it is 

 reduced into the Ibrm of paste like the woad, 

 and the dyers make use of it in the same manner. 

 After the first autumnal rains a small plant 

 sprin*:^s up in the fields, called the herb of rosoU, 

 which appears to he of a new genus, and which 

 I have deiiominated sassia tincloria. It hears 

 three or for.r quadripetal ilowers of a purple 

 hue, which are used to colour and to communi- 

 cate an agreeable flavour to a kind of liqueur 

 called the ijurple. A single flower, although 

 smaller than that of thvme, will colour five or 

 isix pounds of liquor. The cabinet-makers 

 likewise make use of it to stain their work. 1 

 am of opinion that this plant might be advan- 

 tageously employed in the dying of wool and 

 linen, particularly t!ie latter, since merely by 

 tinging it with the expressed juice of the flower, 

 it acquires a beautiful colour that continues a 

 lor.g time. Of the same genus is the sassia 

 pcrdicaria, called by the inhabitants rimii , or 

 the paitridge flower, from its being the favourite 

 food of that bird. \i bears but one flower, of 

 a golden yellow, similar in form to that of the 

 panke tinctoria, which gives a beautiful appear- 

 ame to the meadows, where it is found in great 

 abundance in autumn. The Chilian names of 

 the months of April and of May are derived 

 from that of thid plant, April being called unen- 



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