( 78 ) 



might have been expected in a great bread-corn country like this, 

 failed, as the produce is by no means equal in nutritive property 

 to that of our numerous cereals. 



12. J GossYPiFOLiA. — Native of Brazil ; shrubby plant, 5 feet 

 in height, recognisable by its lobate, entire leaves, beautifully 

 changing from reddish-brown to green, and its flowers of red and 

 yellow. Common as a pot-plant about bungalows; has been 

 introduced within the last 10 years. 



RICINUS, Monoecia Monadelphia. 



13. H Communis, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 3, p 689 ; Blackwell t. 148 ; 

 Rheede Mai. 2, t. 32 ; Bot. Mag. t. 2209 ; Rumph. Amb. 4, t. 

 4 1 . — The latter seems a variety, Ainslie Mat. Ind. 2, 472. " Eren- 

 di," Hindoostanee ; said to be originally a native of Arabia, but is 



' now exclusively cultivated in India, though never seen in a wild 

 state ; the taller species, a six feet shrub, is commonly grown as an 

 edging to sugar-cane fields ; the smaller, or " Teerkie," is grown 

 extensively in Kandeish and Gujarat, in fields having a brownish- 

 black soil, as a cold weather crop. This variety yields .proportion- 

 ally more oil than the other; it is much used as a lamp-oil in 

 Gujarat. When cold-drawn, the oil is an excellent and safe 

 cathartic. That extracted by heat is a little better than a poison, 

 owing, it is supposed, to the action of heat on the embryo, which is 

 very virulent, its after effects inducing the very symptoms for 

 which it is often given as a remedy. Large supplies of the cold- 

 drawn oil are made at Hewra by means of the hydraulic press) 

 and supplied to the Medical Stores. 

 CICCA, Monoecia Triandria. 



14. C DiSTiCHA, Willd. 4, p 332; Roxb. Fl. Ind. 3, No. 673 ; 

 Rheede Mai. 3, t. 47 and 48 ; Rumph Amb. 7, t. 33, p 2 ; Jaq. 

 Hort. 2, t. 194. — Country Gooseberry, Harparewree. A small tree 

 with pinnate leaves, chiefly terminal, and I to 2 feet long ; flowers 

 racemed, small, of a reddish colour, growing from the branches ; 

 fruit oblate, size of a gooseberry, ribbed, of an agreeable acid 

 flavour. 



LXXXIL— URTICE^. 



THE NETTLE 'I'RIBE, Lind. Nat. Syst. p 93. 



URTICA, MoncEcia Tetrandria. From uro, to burn, in allusion 

 to the stinging properties of many of tlie species. 



1 . U Tenacissima, Roxb. 3, 590. — Low shrub, with alternate 

 broad-cordate grossly serrate leaves, the under surface covered 

 with white tomentum ; native of Sumatra. Many plants in Hewra 

 garden, furnished by Mr. Law, C. S. The plant does not appear 



