10 



called boldine, extracted from the plant, has reputed medicinal value, and a 

 drag called Boldu is similarly produced. 



68. Borassus flabelliformis. — The Palmyra palm. The parts of this tree are 



applied to such a multitude of purposes that a poem in the Tamil language, 

 although enumerating eight hundred uses, does not exhaust the catalogue. 

 In old trees the wood becomes hard and is very durable. The leaves are 

 from 8 to 10 feet long, and are used for thatching houses, making various 

 mattings, bags, etc. They also supply the Hindoo with paper, upon which 

 he writes with a stylus. A most important product called toddy or palm 

 wine is obtained from the flower spikes, which yield a great quantity of 

 juice for four or five months. Palm-toddy is intoxicating, and when dis- 

 tilled yields strong arrack. Very good vinegar is also obtained from it, and 

 large quantities of jaggery or palm sugar are manufactured from the toddy. 

 The fruits are large and have a thick coating of fibrous pulp, which is cooked 

 and eaten or made into jelly. The young palm plants are cultivated for the 

 market, as cabbages are with us, and eaten, either when fresh or after being 

 dried in the sun. 



69. Boswbllia thtjrifera. — This Coromandel tree furnishes the resin known as 



olibanum, which is supposed to have been the frankincense of the ancients. 

 It is sometimes used in medicine as an astringent and stimulant, and is em- 

 ployed, because of its grateful perfume, as an incense in churches. 



70. Bromelia karatas. — The Corawa fiber, or silk-grass of Guiana, is obtained 



from this plant, which is very strong, and much used for bowstrings, fishing 

 lines, nets, and ropes. 



71. Bromelia pinguin. — This is very common as a hedge or fence plant in the 



West Indies. The leaves, when beaten with a blunt mallet and macerated in 

 water, produce fibers from which beautiful fabrics are manufactured. The 

 fruit yields a cooling juice much used in fevers. 



72. Brosium alicastbum. — The bread-nut tree of Jamaica. The nuts or seeds 



produced by this tree are said to form an agreeable and nutritious article of 

 food. When cooked they taste like hazelnuts. The young branches and 

 shoots are greedily eaten "by horses and cattle, and the wood resembles ma- 

 hogany, and is used for making furniture. 



73. Brosimum galactodendron — The cow tree of South America, which yields a 



milk of as good quality as that from the cow. It forms large forests on the 

 mountains near the town of Cariaco and elsewhere along the seacoast of 

 Venezuela, reaching to a considerable height. In South America the cow 

 tree is called Palo de Vaca, or Arbol de Leche. Its milk, which is obtained by • 

 making incisions in the trunk, so closely resembles the milk of the cow, both 

 in appearance and quality, that it is commonly used as an article of food by 

 the inhabitants of the places where the tree is abundant. Unlike many other 

 vegetable milks, it is perfectly wholesome, and very nourishing, possessing an 

 agreeable taste, and a pleasant balsamic odor, its only unpleasant quality be- 

 ing a slight amount of stickiness. The chemical analysis of this milk has 

 shown it to possess a composition closely resembling some animal substances; 

 and, like animal milk, it quickly forms a cheesy scum, and after a few days' 

 exposure to the atmosphere, turns sour and putrifies. It contains upwards 

 of 30 per cent of a resinous substance called galactine. 



74. Brya ebenus.— Jamaica or West India ebony tree. This is not the plant that 



yields the true ebony-wood of commerce. Jamica ebony is of a greenish- 

 brown color, very hard, and so heavy that it sinks in water. It takes a good 

 polish, and is used by turners for the manufacture of numerous kinds of 

 small wares. 



75. Byrsonima spicata. — A Brazilian plant, furnishing an astringent bark used 



for tanning, and also containing a red coloring matter employed in dyeing. 

 The berries are used in medicine, and a decoction of the roots is used for 

 ulcers. 



76. Cjesalpinia bondttc. — A tropical plant, bearing the seeds known as nicker nuts, 



or bonduc nuts. These are often strung together for necklaces. The kernels 

 have a very bitter taste, and the oil obtained from them is used medicinally. 



77. CLesalpina pulcherrima.— This beautiful flowering leguminous plant is a na- 



tive of the East Indies, but is cultivated in all the tropics. In Jamaica it is 

 called the " Barbados flower." The wood is sought after for charcoal, and a 

 decoction of the leaves and flowers is used in fevers. 



