242 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OTHER INFLAMMABLE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



VIRGINIA MYRTLE, OR MYRICA CERIFERA BRAZILIAN 



PALM WAX ANDES PALM WAX CROTON TALLOW 



PINEY TALLOW. 



THE experiments of the great chemist, Proust, led 

 him to believe that the bloom which silvers the sur- 

 face of plums and other stone fruits is wax, and that 

 the property of resisting moisture, which resides in 

 the leaves of the cabbage and some other plants, is 

 caused by their surfaces being overspread with a 

 similar substance. 



There is no doubt that wax is to be found native 

 in the vegetable world, without the intervention of its 

 insect collector and manufacturer the bee. 



The tomex sebifera, the poplar, the alder, and 

 several labiated plants, afford a concrete inflammable 

 matter by decoction, which more or less resembles 

 tallow or wax. 



Two species of the Virginia myrtle, or Myrica 

 cerifera, yield a product in every way similar to wax, 

 and in so great abundance as to have obtained for 

 them the name of candleberry-trees. 



The myrica cerifera augustifolia is a native of 

 Louisiana. It is delicate, and can with difficulty be 

 reared in an English green-house. In its general 

 native clime it grows to the height of ten or twelve 

 feet, with a crooked stern shooting forth into many 

 irregular branches. The leaves grow without any 



