164 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



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

 fruit, which sometimes disaggregates and opens with great noise ; 

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

 smooth. Many other Euphorbiacece might without doubt be utilized 

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

 they have scarcely been employed. Thçre 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 Baccaurcu, it has even been described at a certain 

 epoch as a sapid arU 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 glauca 

 Vahl et glaiidtihm Vahi. ; in America of J. 

 herbacea L. At Sierra Leone they employ as 

 poison for rats, etc., the fruit of Dichnpetalum 

 toxiearium [ChailUtia toxieariaT)ov) or the seed ? 

 (See H. Bn. in Biet. Eiteycl. Sc. Med. xiv. 

 631.) 



2 L. Spec. 1377.— H. Bn. Eiiphorbiac. 529. 

 t. 7, fig. 6-9.— M. Aro. Prodr. 1136, n. 5.— 

 LiNDL. 7eg. Kiiigd. 280. — Eosf.nth. op. cit., 

 825.— 0. mtcifera Sw. Obs. 95. The seeds are 

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

 ou Liane à l'anse, L. popaye fi-om the Antilles, 

 used to prepare green walnuts, and the leaves 

 topically in treating old ulcers. 



3 Kakst. Fl. Columb. 91, t. 45.- M. Arg. 

 Prodr. 765 (vulg. Tacai). The albumen fur- 

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

 fectly edible. 



•1 H. Bn. in Adansonia, i. 64 ; xi. 134. — M. 

 Aro. Prodr. 1083, n. 17. — Iticinodendron 

 africarms SI. Aro. in Flora (1864), 633; 

 Prodr. 1111. 



5 The pericarp is edible and fleshy in A»ti- 

 desmn Dallachgaimm H. Bn. an Australian 

 species. Animals eat that of Securiiiega Leuco- 

 pgrus M. Aug. [Flurggea Leiicopgrus W.), 

 white and fleshy like the berry of a Symphori- 

 rapos. In the PhyUantlms Fmblica (L. Spec. 



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

 20-24 ; — Emblica officinalis G j:rtn. Friict. ii. 

 122, t. 108 ; — Dichœlactiiia nodicaulis Hance, 

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

 the Myrobalans emblics or Spondias, formerly 

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

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

 cit. 838.) 



' Notably in the B. ramijlora and caulifiora 

 LouB. in Cochin China ; in the B. diilcis {Pie- 

 rardia diileis Jack), from Sumatra ; and in the 

 B. raeemosa {Pirrardia racemosa Bl.), horn Ja,va,, 

 (vulg. Mentiiig). 



7 Excœcuria sebifera M. Aro. Prodr. 1210, n. 

 17. — Croton sebiferus L. Spec. ed. 3, 1425. — 

 Triadica sinensis Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 610.— 

 Stillingia sebifera MiCHX. Fl. Bor.-Amer. ii. 213. 

 — S. sinensis H. Bn. Euphorb. 612, t. 7, fig. 

 26-30. — Stilliiigjleetia sebifera BoJ. Eort. Maur. 

 284. 



^ Echinus philippinensis H. Bn. in Adansonia, 

 vi. m.—Rotthra tinctoria \V. Spec. iv. 832. 

 GriB. op. cit. ii. 367, fig. \&2.— Croton philip- 

 pinensis Lamk. Diet. ii. 206. — C. pmictatus Retz. 

 Obs. V. 30.— C coceineus Vahl, Symb. ii. 97. — 

 C. miintanns W. Spec. iv. 515. — Mallotus philip- 

 pinensis M.. Aina. in Zinneea {IS65), 196; Prodr. 

 980, u. 68. 



