PLANTS. 321 



verted ; flowers small and yellowish. Fruit as large as 

 an apple, contains seeds Avhich are eatable. Native of 

 Peru and Guiana. The milky juice which flows from 

 incisions being made in the bark of the tree, becomes 

 hard and brown on exposure to the air, and is the well 

 known Caoutchouc or India rubber, so useful at the pre- 

 sent time in the manufacture of overshoes, water-proof 

 coats, etc. h. 



Palma Cltristi, Castor Oil Bean (Ricinus commu- 

 nis) is a shrub with an erect branching stem. Leaves 

 shield-shaped on long petioles. Flowers bloom in tufts ; 

 bears a prickly nut (caps) containing seed. Native of 

 East Indies, but cultivated in southern Europe and Amer- 

 ica; a rich oil is expressed from the seeds, which, at first 

 almost tasteless, but afterwards found disagreeable and 

 acrid, is the well known Castor Oil of the shops. One 

 of its popular names is the Wonder Tree, because it is 

 believed to be of the same species with that which, as 

 mentioned in the Scriptures, grew in one night into a 

 tree, under whose shade the Prophet Jonah sat when sent 

 to preach to the people of Nineveh. In the south 2, in 

 Germany and the north. G- 



The Mandicc, (Jatropha or Janipha manihot), leaves 

 on under surface grayish- green, five to six-lobed, on long 

 petioles ; blooms in clustering racemes ; stem crooked, 

 about six feet in height, bears seed like the Palma 

 Christi. Native of South America, where it is culti- 

 vated largely. The starchy accumulations in the rhizoma 

 or underground portion of the stem, which is fleshy and 

 of the thickness of an arm, forms the articles used for food. 

 The starch thus obtained is the Cassava, which, when gra- 

 nulated, forms the Tapioca of commerce. Nevertheless, 

 although the root furnishes this nutritious farina, it also 

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