24 



CASE. Observe portion of a fruit spike of Liliuni giganteum^ Wall., 

 14, from Bhotan, showing the winged seeds. A fully grown spike 

 measuring 13 feet high and a circumference of 11^ inches at 

 the base is shown in Cases 17, 18, and 19. 



No. 42. Fibrous portion of bulb of Ubaguri {Lilium 

 cordifoiium, Thb.), from which the starch has been partially 

 extracted by soaking and kneading ; this is pounded in a 

 mortar, kneaded into a mass and made into cakes by the Ainu 

 people. The cakes are dried by hanging them in the huts, 

 the discolouration being caused by smoke ; they vary in size, 

 some being over a foot in diameter. 



In the same mount observe specimens of confectionery made 

 by Japanese from the starch. 



Note on middle shelf a sample of meal prepared from roots 

 of Erythronium Dens-cams, L., and used as food in Japan. 



Observe also the sliced and powdered corms of Colchicum 

 or Meadow Saffron {Colchicum autumnale, L.). For 

 medicinal purposes the corms are collected at the end of June 

 or beginning of July, and carefully dried and sliced. Colchi- 

 cum is used as a cathartic and emetic in gout and acute 

 rheumatism ; in large doses it is an acro-narcotic poison. 



The bulbs of Tulipa montana, L., under the name of Gol-i- 

 LALE, are collected and eaten in Afghanistan, and Dr. Aitchison 

 says that what he believes to be these bulbs, when deprived of 

 their external coats, are passed off for and sold under the name 

 of Salep at Bombay. 



No. 43, Tasteless Hermodactyls. These are supposed 

 by some authorities to be the produce of Colchicum variegatum, 

 L., a native of the Levant ; but the Hermodactyls known in 

 India also as Surinjan, found chiefly in Indian bazaars, 

 are imported into Bombay from the Red Sea ports and from 

 Persia. A great deal of uncertainty exists as to their origin. 

 They are used in India in medicine. 



No. 44, Shambalit, the corms of Merendera persica, 

 Boiss. They are collected in Afghanistan, and used in native 

 medicine. 



Observe White Hellebore root {Veratnim album, L.). 

 A large perennial herb, common in all the great mountain 

 regions, as the Alps, Pyrenees, Balkans, as well as in the hilly 

 country of France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, &c. White 

 Hellebore root is imported in bales, principally from Germany, 



