June 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



127 



substitute for, olive oil for culinary purposes, and the residue 

 or marc is used for feeding cattle. Under the name of 

 " maw seeds " they are given to cage birds. In this country 

 the opium poppy is cultivated in many medicinal gardens, 

 notably at Bodicote, near Banbury, Hitchin, and other 

 places. 



Crucifer.t:. — The plants constituting this order are 

 mostly of an herbaceous character, particularly abundant 

 in the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. 

 Though they mostly possess pungent or biting properties, 

 none are poisonous, but, on the contrary, are eminently 

 wholesome and antiscorbutic. The following best known 

 examples of the order will illustrate this. Horse radish 

 {Cochharia aniwracia), a perennial herb naturalized in this 

 country, occurring in damp, waste places, and found 

 throughout the greater part of Europe. Under cultivation 

 it forms a thick, somewhat fleshy root, and is much 

 valued as a condiment. Mustard is another condiment of 

 equal or greater value, and is the finely pulverized seeds of 

 two species of Jhossica — B. alia the white, and B. niiirn 

 the black mustard. They are annual plants widely distri- 

 buted over Europe, B. alba occurring also in Asia Minor, 

 Algeria, and China, and cultivated in the home counties 

 of Essex and Cambridgeshire; while B. niijni is also found 

 in Asia Minor, as well as in North Africa and North-West 

 India, its cultivation in this country being chiefly carried 

 on in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In the preparation of 

 mustard, or flour of mustard of commerce, the seeds of both 

 species are used mixed, and great care is taken in reducing 

 them to a very fine powder which is sifted through a fine 

 silk gauze. Besides the use of mustard for table purposes, 

 it is an important medicinal agent on account of its power- 

 ful stimulant and rubefacient properties. The cabbage 

 (Brassica oh'racea) is another Ulustration of a valuable 

 esculent belonging to this important order of plants. In 

 its wild state it is abundant on the clifl's by the sea-coast 

 in many parts of England, especially in the south-eastern 

 counties. The eftect of cultivation has produced marvellous 

 changes in this plant, giving us all the varieties of brocoli, 

 Scotch kale, Savoy, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and even 

 the red cabbage. The same power of culture has also 

 changed the woody root of the common wild turnip 

 {Brassica campestiis var. Bapa) into the fleshy, globular 

 root of our gardens, while the Swede turnip has sprung 

 from another variety of the same species ; and the rape, 

 again, so largely grown by us as a green fodder, and on 

 the Continent for the sake of its seeds, from which is ex- 

 pressed rape or colza oil, has originated from still another 

 variety. 



The radish (Rapliatnts satii-us) is still another of the 

 esculent cruciferous roots. The plant is unknown in its 

 wild state, but it has been suggested that it may have 

 sprung from an allied species of the Mediterranean coast. 

 In the early ages it was extensively cultivated in Egypt, 

 and found its way into England about the middle uf the 

 sixteenth century. Gerard mentions four varieties as 

 being known in 1597. We cannot leave this interesting 

 family of plants without a reference to woad, the blue 

 colouring matter used by the ancient Britons to stain 

 their skins, and produced by hat is tinctoria. At that early 

 period its culture seems to have been general for the 

 purpose mentioned above, as well as for dyeing cloths, 

 but in later times the general introduction of indigo 

 seriously mterfered with the use of woad ; and though it 

 is still manufactured in some parts of the Continent, its 

 preparation in this country is fast dying out, and at the 

 present time is carried on only in the neighbourhood of 

 Wisbech, and there it is still made in the most primitive 

 fashion. 



Cappabide.t:. — This comparatively small order is com- 

 posed of herbs and shrubby plants, very rarely trees, chiefly 

 tropical, abundant in Africa, America, and India. The 

 order is marked by the presence of pungent and stimulant 

 properties, in this respect somewhat resembling the crucifers. 

 Only one plant, however, in the order has any special 

 economic value, and that perhaps of more interest than 

 actual commercial value. We allude to capers, which 

 are the flower buds of Cajiparis spinosa, a scrambling bush 

 of the Mediterranean region. The plant is cultivated in 

 some parts of France, as well as in Italy, for the sake of 

 the flower buds, which are gathered and pickled in vinegar. 

 The imports to this country are very small, the use of 

 capers being only for culinary purposes. 



Cistinet;. — Shrubs or herbs generally known as rock 

 roses, natives chiefly of Southern Europe and Northern 

 Africa. They are noted for the presence of a fragrant 

 balsamic resin. The best known plant is Cistus Critvus, 

 a native of Crete and Cyprus, Macedonia, Rhodes, and 

 other Greek islands. A resin known as ladanum is 

 collected from the leaves and branches by whipping or 

 bruising them with an instrument consisting of long 

 leathern thongs attached to a rake-like frame. The 

 thongs become coated with the resin, which is after- 

 wards scraped off and moulded into small cakes. In 

 Cyprus, ladanum is often collected by combing the resin 

 from the fleeces of the sheep, which become loaded with it 

 while they are pasturing among the plants. It possesses 

 stimulant and expectorant properties, but it is seldom or 

 never used in medicine at the present time ; it nearly all 

 goes to Turkey, where it is used for fumigation and as a 

 perfume. 



BrxiNE.F.. — A group of shrubs or trees, natives of the 

 tropics, and found mostly in the East and West Indies and 

 Africa. The principal economic plant of the order is the 

 anatto {liixa ordlana], a tree twenty to thirty feet high, 

 native of tropical America, but now cultivated in many 

 tropical countries for the sake of the seeds, which are small, 

 of a bright red colour when fresh, and of a waxy nature. 

 It is this red coating of the seeds that forms the anatto 

 of commerce, and it is removed by placing the seeds in 

 water, which is stirred till the colouring substance is 

 detached, when it is strained and evaporated to difi'erent 

 consistencies and used for colouring cheese and butter, as 

 well as for dyeing silks. Large quantities of these seeds 

 are regularly imported. 



Amongst other economic plants of this order of less 

 importance may be mentioned the chaulmugra (Gt/nocardia 

 odorata), a large Indian tree, producing hard-skinned 

 globular fruits about four inches in diameter. These con- 

 tain numerous seeds embedded in the pulp, and from these 

 seeds an oil is expressed known as " chaulmugra oil." It 

 has an established reputation in India as a medicinal oil, 

 and was introduced a few years ago to this country for 

 the treatment of rheumatic affections and skin diseases. 

 Its use has now, however, quite died out. 



GuTTiFEK.E. — Trees and shrubs are the plants which 

 compose this order, and they are all natives of tropical 

 countries. They are for the most part resinous, besides 

 which many of them yield oils or fats. The best known 

 resinous products are those furnished by species of Garcinia 

 and collectively known as " gamboge." The most important 

 of these are Garcinia Hanburyi, yielding the best quality, 

 or Siam gamboge, and Garcinia Morella, giving the Ceylon 

 kind. Gamboge is obtained from the first-named plant by 

 making a spiral cut through the bark of the tree as it 

 stands ; the yellow juice readily flows and is received into 

 the hollow joints of bamboos, where it is left until it solidi- 

 fies, after which the bamboos are broken away, leaving 



