100 



FRUITS 



legumes is rough, brownish, firm, but easily broken and separated 

 from the pulp ; the latter (mesocarp) is juicy and acid, and traversed 

 by a number of stout branching fibrovascular bundles. The seeds 

 are few in number and enclosed in a leathery membrane (endocarp). 

 In the West Indies tamarinds, exported from Barbados and Antigua, 

 are collected when ripe, and prepared for the market by removing 

 the epicarp, packing them in barrels, and preserving them with hot 



syrup. In India the pulp is simply pressed 

 into cakes, with or without the addition of 

 10 per cent, of salt as a preservative. Small 

 quantities of tamarinds are also exported 

 from other countries (Egypt, &c.). 



Description. The official tamarinds are 

 the fruits preserved with syrup, as above 

 described. They form a reddish brown, 

 moist, sugary mass, in which the branching 

 fibres and hard, reddish brown, obscurely 

 quadrangular seeds enclosed in the leathery 

 endocarp can readily be found. They have 

 an agreeable odour and a sweet and acid 

 taste. 



From India tamarinds are sent in the 

 form of firm, black cakes consisting of the 

 pulp of the fruit, together with the fibres, 

 seeds, and small portions of the epicarp. 

 Although not official it is frequently em- 

 ployed, and yields a good pulp. The cakes 

 have scarcely any odour, but a rather 

 strongly acid taste. 



FIG. 56. Fruit of the Tama- 

 rind tree with part of the 

 pericarp removed, showing 

 5, seed ; /, fibres ; p, epi- 

 carp ; ra, pulp. Natural 

 size. (Vogl.) 



Constituents. Tamarind pulp, though 

 varying in composition, contains about 

 10 per cent, of free tartaric acid, about 

 8 per cent, of acid potassium tartrate, and 

 from 25 to 40 per cent, of invert sugar. 



The total acidity varies from 1 1 to 16 per cent. West Indian tamarinds 

 contain much added sugar and proportionately less acid. 



Uses. Tamarinds are a pleasant acid refrigerant and gentle laxative. 



SENNA PODS 

 (Senna Legumes, Sennae Fructus) 



Source, &c. Senna pods are the dried ripe fruits of Cassia acuti folia, 

 Delile (Alexandrian senna pods), and of C. angusti folia, Vahl (Indian 

 senna pods) (see " Senna "). 



