164 



NATURAL HIS TOBY OF PLANTS. 



they are found placed one in each of the cells of this singular 

 fruit, which sometimes disaggregates and ojjens with great noise ; 

 they are lenticular, flattened, the outline orbiculate and sui-face 

 smooth. Many other Euphorhiaceoe might without doubt be utilized 

 for the same purpose i, when the seeds are of sufficient size ; but 

 they have scarcely been employed. There are some whose edible 

 kernel contains no dangerous principle : such as the nuts of St. 

 Domingo, produced by Omphalea triandra ; " Caryodendron orino- 

 cense,^ eaten in New Granada, and Jatropha Heudelotii^ whose 

 pericarp is said to be equally edible.^ Generally, the ripe seeds 

 are covered by a dry and resisting coat ; but sometimes also the 

 exterior coat thickens, presenting a totally different consistence. In 

 certain species of Baccaurca, it has even been described at a certain 

 epoch as a sapid aril and filled with juice, eating like a fleshy fruit. ^' 

 In the Tallow tree "' it forms all round the seed a thick and white 

 tunic, whose meshes are filled with a wax as useful as that 

 of the bee. In the Kamala of India,^ the seed seems sprinkled 

 with small reddish grains, which are so many isolated, complicated 

 vesicles, dependent from the external seminal coat, and which 



1 In Arabia they use those of Jatropha glanea 

 Vahl et glaiidulosa Vahi. ; in America of J. 

 herbacca L. At Sierra Leone they employ as 

 poison for rats, etc., the fruit of Dichapetahtm 

 tuxicariiim [Chaillelta toxicaria Don) or the seed ? 

 (See H. Bn. in Diet. Biicycl. Sc. Med. xiv. 

 631.) 



- L. Spec. 1377.— H. Bn. Euphorbiae. 529. 

 t. 7, fig. 6-9.— M. Arg. Prodi: 1136, n. 5.— 

 LiNDL. Veg. Kiiigd. 280. — Rosentk. op. cit., 

 825. — 0. uucifera Sw. Ubs. 95. The seeds are 

 also edible in 0. diandra L. (0. cordata Sw.), 

 ou Liaiie a I'aiise, L. popaye from the Antilles, 

 used to prepare green walnuts, and the leaves 

 topically in treating old ulcers. 



3 Kakst. Fl. Colnmb. 91, t. 45.— M. Aro. 

 Pnidr. 765 (vulg. Tucai). The albumen fur- 

 nishes a sort of butter which is said to be per- 

 fectly edible. 



■i H. Bn. in Adaiisonia, i. 64 ; xi. 134.— M. 

 Arg. I'rodr. 1083, n, 17. — Iticinodexdron 

 africauiu M. Aeq. in Flora (1864), 533; 

 Prodr. 1111. 



' The pericarp is edible and fleshy in Aiiti- 

 desmii llullachyuinim H. Bn. an Australian 

 species. Animals eat that of Securiiiega Leuco- 

 pgrus M. Aug. {Fliiiggea Leucopyrm W.), 

 white and fleshy like the berry of a Symphori- 

 rapos. In the Pliyllanlliiis Fmb/icii (L. Spee. 



1393;— H. Bn. Euphorbiac. 637, t. 24, fig. 

 20-24 ; — Emblica officinalis Gjertn. Fruct. ii. 

 122, t. 108 ; — Dichcelactitia nodicaulis Hance, 

 PI. Chill, i. 2), it is the fruit which constitutes 

 the MyrobahiHs emblics or Spondias, formerly 

 employed as laxative, cooling, etc. (Guib. op. cit. 

 ii. 361.— LiNDL. Fl. Med. 176. Rosenth. op. 

 cit. 838.) 



^ Notably in the S. raiuijlora and caulijlora 

 Lour, in Cochin China ; in the B. diilcis {Pie- 

 rardia diilcis Jack), from Sumatra ; and in the 

 S. raccmosa (Pirrardin racemosa Bl.), from Java, 

 (vulg. Mentiiig). 



'• Excacaria sebifera'iil. Av.o. Prodr. 1210, n. 

 17. — Crotoii sebijcrus L. Spec. ed. 3, 1425. — 

 Triadica sinensis Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 610. — , 

 Stilliiigia sebifej-a MicHX. Fl. Bor.-Amer. ii. 213. 

 — 5. sinensis H. Bn. Euphorb. 512, t. 7, fig. 

 26-30. — Stillingjleetia sebij'tra Boj. Mart. Maiir. 

 284. 



8 Echinus philippinoisis H. Bn. in Adansonia, 

 vi. 3U.—Eotlltra tiiicturia W. Spec. iv. 832. 

 Guib. op. cit. ii. 367, fig. ^62.— Croto)l philip- 

 pinen.iis Lamk. Diet. ii. 206. — C. pnnctatus Retz. . 

 04s. V. 30.— C. coccineiis Vahl, Symb. ii. 97. — 

 C. monlaniis W. *>«. iv. 515.— Mallotiis philip- 

 pinensis M. Arg. in Linntea (1865), 196; Prodr. 

 980, n. 68. 



