OLEAGINOUS PLANTS. 511 



The subjoined list will serve to exhibit the richness of the pro- 

 duce of different Indian seeds, from which varieties of oil are ex- 

 tracted ; it gives the proportion of oil per cent, in weight : 



Sesame oil (Sesam um indicum) ... ... 46'7 



Black til, coloured variety of ditto ( Verbesena sativa) 



Gingelie oil (S. orientale) ... 



Ground nuts, produced by Arachis hypogwa 



Wounded seeds obtained from the Poonnay-tree (Calophyllum 



Inophyllum), a bitter lamp oil... 

 Karunj seeds, from the Pongamia glabra, 

 Ram til, the seeds of the huts Ellu, or Guizotia oleifera 

 Poppy seeds ( Papaver somniferum) 

 Silaam, an oil seed from Nepaul 

 Rape seed (Brassica napus) 



46-4 

 467 

 45-5 



63-7 

 267 

 35 



43 to 58 

 41 

 33 



The foregoing are not all the seeds from which oil is extracted 

 by the natives of the East. In addition to this there are cotton- 

 seed oil, used for their lamps. Castor oil and Argemone seed, 

 similarly used. Oil obtained from the fruit of Melia Azadriachta, 

 for medicine and lamps. Apricot oil in the Himalayas, sunflower 

 oil, oil of cucumber-seed for cooking and lamps, oil of colocynth 

 seed, a lamp oil. 



The seeds of bastard saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) yield oil. 



Mustard oil, the produce of various species of Sinapis, &c. 

 Shanghae oil, from Brassica OJiinensis. Illiepie oil, from Bassia 

 lonc/ifolia, which is used for frying cakes, &c., in Madras ; and 

 Muohwa oil, from another species of the same genus in Bengal, 

 . latifolia. Oil is expressed from the seeds of Casalpina oleos- 

 perma, a native of the East. The neem tree seeds afford a very 

 clear or bitter oil, used for burning. 



Wood oil is a remarkable substance, obtained from several species 

 of Dipterocarpus, by simply tapping the tree. 



The horse-eyes and cacoons of Jamaica (Fevillea scandens) yield 

 a considerable quantity of oil or fat, as white and hard as tallow. 

 It has been employed for similar purposes on the Mosquito shores. 



The seeds of the Argemone mexicana, and of the Sanguinaria 

 canadensis, also contain a bland, nutritious, colorless, fixed oil. 

 The mass from which the seed is expressed is found to be ex- 

 tremely nutritious to cattle. 



The CameUna sativa is cultivated in Europe, for the extraction 

 of an oil used only by the soap makers, and for lamps. 



A solid oil, of a pale greenish color, a good deal resembling the 

 oils of the Bassia in character, though rather harder, and ap- 

 proaching more in properties to myrtle wax, was shown at the 

 Great Exhibition, from Singapore. It is supposed to be the pro- 

 duce of the tallow tree of Java, called locally " kawan," probably 

 a species of Bassia. It is very easily bleached ; indeed, by exposure 

 to air and light, it becomes perfectly white ; if not too costly, it 

 promises to become a valuable oil. 



According to Mr. Low, there are several varieties of solid oil 

 commonly used in the Islands of the Archipelago, and obtained 

 from the seeds of different species of Dipterocarpus. 



