308 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Seeds yield an excellent oil, which will keep several 

 years without injury. Used in cookery for all the pur- 

 poses of sweet oil ; also for burning, and as ingredient in 

 salves, etc. Five pounds of seeds yield one of oil. An- 

 other species with black seeds is inferior. O. 



The Trumpet Flower (Tecoma radicans), Juss., and 

 Catalpa (C. Cordifolia), Jaum., natives of United States, 

 and Tecoma C/rinensis, native of China and Japan, are 

 also found among the Bignoniaceae. 



The Lianas, found abundantly in all tropical coun- 

 tries and everywhere met with in the primitive forests, 

 claim their place here. Flinging themselves in wonder- 

 ful and beautiful reaches from tree to tree, they unite 

 those forest monarchs with each other, their green bands 

 varying in size from a slender filament up to a cable 

 rope. Most of them are parasitic, and rooting themselves 

 on the top of the tree, travel downwards and unite it 

 with the earth, often, however, distorting their stems into 

 the most grotesque convolutions on the way, sometimes 

 assuming the shape of a gigantic cork-screw, at others 

 the form of steps, frequently called Monkey-stairs. 

 Many are prized for their beautiful flowers, others for 

 their medicinal properties or excellent wood ; a few, 

 when an incision is made in the bark, pour forth cool, 

 clear water, proving a real cordial to the wanderer in 

 those torrid regions. Others, too, have been described 

 as resembling the trees of the enchanted forest, sung by 

 Tasso in Jerusalem Delivered, which, on being cut, 

 yields a bloody sap ; this, sprinkled upon the clothes of 

 the intruder, leaves a stain which never can be washed 

 out; the Indians use it for painting themselves. The 

 lianas, twining thus from tree to tree form a perfect 

 tangle, and growing large and strong, become so tough 



