MOEACB^. 587 



stetiias have a slightly concave broad receptacle, bearing numerous 

 flowers (fig. 266, p. 180). J). Contrayena, D. Houstoni, and D. bra- 

 siliemis furnish the Contrayervar-root of commerce. The ofiicinal part 

 is the root-stock, which is used as a stimulant, tonic, and diaphoretic. 

 Bromsotietia papyrifera is the Paper-mulberry, so called on account of 

 "being used in China and Japan in the manufacture of a kind of paper. 

 It is called Crape-paper, and is prepared by pounding the bark, steep- 

 ing it in water, then mixing it with glue, and taking it up with a 

 mould of Bamboo-screen of the size required. The yellow dye-wood 

 called Fustic is the produce of Madura (Broussonetia) tinctoria. 



The Artooarpus section is important as regards its uses. Arto- 

 carpus incisa, the Bread-fruit tree, supplies an amylaceous fruit, which 

 furnishes an abundant supply of food in tropical countries. The pro- 

 perties of this tree are thus enumerated by Hooker : — The fruit serves 

 for food ; clothes are made from the fibres of the inner bark ; the 

 wood is used for building houses and making boats ; the male catkins 

 are employed as tinder ; the leaves for table-cloths and for wrapping 

 provisions in ; and the viscid milky juice affords birdlime. A. integri- 

 folid is the Jack or Jaca, the fruit of which attains a large size, some- 

 times weighing thirty pounds, and is inferior in quality to the Bread- 

 fruit. In both instances the fruit is a sorosis, consisting of numerous 

 flowers on a common axis, which becomes succulent. The milky juice 

 of many of the Artocarpus tribe supplies caoutchouc, and in some 

 instances it is used as a substitute for milk. This is the case with 

 the juice of Brosimum (Oalactodendron) utile, which is called Palo de 

 Vaoa, or the Cow-tree, in Demerara. The wood of Brosimum Auhletii 

 {Piratimra guianensis) is called Snake-wood, or Letter-wood, in Deme- 

 rara, and is used for articles of furniture. Specimens sent by Dr. 

 Campbell from Demerara have been beautifully manufactured in Scot- 

 land. The seeds of many of the Artocarpus tribe are eaten. Brosi- 

 mum Alicastrum yields Bread-nuts, which, when boiled or roasted, are 

 nutritious and agreeable articles of food. While the juice of some is 

 nutritive, that of others is highly poisonous. Thus Antiaris toxicaria 

 is the source of the famous poison called Bohun-Upas or Upas-Antiar, 

 by the Javanese, and which is said to owe its properties to the pre- 

 sence of a peculiar principle called Antiarin, which causes muscular 

 paralysis. Another Upas poison, called Upas-Tieut^, has already been 

 noticed under the order Loganiacess, as being the produce of a species 

 of Strychnos. The bark of Antiaris saccidora, a gigantic tree, having 

 a trunk 18 feet in circumference at the base, is used for forming sacks. 

 These bags are formed by separating the bark entire from the wood 

 throughout the whole extent, with the exception of a small portion at 

 one end. The- wood is then removed from the interior, a part being 

 left with the bark attached to form the bottom of the sack. The tree 

 is common in the jungles near Ooorg, and the sacks made from it are 



