AMYLUM MARANT^. 633 



Jamaica and other West India Islands, of Brazil, Sierra Leone, and the 

 East Indies, are quoted in price-currents, at least occasionally. Of these 

 the Bermuda enjoys the highest reputation and commands by far the 

 highest price ; but its good quality is shared by the aiTOwroot of other 

 localities, from which, when equally pure, it can in nowise be dis- 

 tinguished. Greenish,^ however, points out that in Natal aiTOwroot the 

 layers (or laminse) are more obvious than in other varieties, although it 

 appears that the former is also produced by Maranta. 



The importations of arrowroot into the United Kingdom during the 

 year 1870 amounted to 21,770 cwt., value £33,003. Of this quantity 

 the island of St. Vincent in the West Indies furnished nearly 17,000 

 cwt., and the colony of Natal about 3000 cwt. The exports from St. 

 Vincent in 1874 were 2,608,100 lb., those of the Bermudas in 1876 onl}-- 

 45,520 Ib.^ The shipments from the colony of Natal during the j^ears 

 1866 to 1876 varied from 1,076 cwt. in 1873 to 4,305 cwt. in 1867.' 



Uses — Arrowroot boiled with water or milk is a much-valued food 

 in the sick-room. It is also an agreeable article of diet in the form of 

 pudding or blancmange. 



Adulteration — Other starches than that of Maranta are occasionally 

 sold under the name oi Arrowroot. Their recognition is only possible 

 by the aid of the microscope. 



Substitutes for Arrowroot. 



Potato Starch — This substance, known in trade as Farina or 

 Potato Flour, is made from the tubers of the potato (Solantun tube- 

 rosum L.) by a process analogous to that followed in the preparation 

 of arrowroot. It has the following characters : — examined under the 

 microscope, the granules are seen to be chiefly of two sorts, the first 

 small and spherical, the second of much larger size, often 100 mkm. in 

 length, having an irregularly circular, oval or egg-shaped outline, finely 

 marked with concentric rings round a minute inconspicuous hikim. 

 When heated in water, the grains swell considerably even at 60" C. 

 Hydrochloric acid, sp. gr. 106, dissolves them at 40" quickly and 

 almost completely, the granules being no longer deposited, as in the 

 case of arrowroot similarly treated. The mixture of arrowroot and 

 hydrochloric acid is inodorous, but that of potato starch has a peculiar 

 though not powerful odour. 



Canna Starch, Tons-l€S-3Iois* Toulema, Tolomane — A species of 

 Canna is cultivated in the West India Islands, especially St. Kitts, for 

 the sake of a peculiar starch which, since about the year 1836, has 

 been extracted from its rhizomes by a process similar to that adopted 

 in making arrowroot. The specific name of the plant is still undeter- 



^ Yearbook of Pharm. (1875) 529. the plant flowering all the year round. But 



-Papers relating to H.M. Colonial Pos- this explanation appears improbable: no 



sessions. Reports for 1875-76. Presented such name is mentioned by Ivochefort, 



to both Houses of Parliament, July 1877. Aublet, or Descourtilz, who all describe 



54. 4. the BaUsier or Canna. It seems more 



* Statist. Abstr. for the several Colonial likely that the term is the result of an 

 and other Possessions of the United King- attempt to confer a meaning on an ancient 

 dom, 14th number, 1878. p. 60. name — perhaps Touloula, which is one of 



* It is commonly stated that the name the Carib designations for Canna and 

 Tous-les-mois was given in consequence of Calathea. 



