324 TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



absorption in lard or other fat. Since spices are used for 

 flavoring, and since many flavoring extracts are made from 

 spices, the line between spices and flavors is not a sharp one. 

 Most of the substances which largely or entirely make up 

 flavoring extracts and perfumes and give them their character- 

 istic properties, belong to the class known as volatile oils or 

 essential oils — a distinct class from the fatty oils already 

 spoken of. Mustard oil and clove oil are well-known examples 

 of this class. Vanilla extract is obtained from the unripe 

 fruit of a Mexican orchid. Other essential oils much used in 

 flavors, perfumes, or both, are those from roses (" attar of 

 roses "), lavender, bergamot, violet, wintergreen, peppermint, 

 rosemary, coriander, bay, and cinnamon. Many of the 

 essential oils are now made in the laboratory more cheaply 

 than they can be obtained from plants. It is for this reason 

 that some of the perfumes and flavors now largely used are 

 not actually derived from the plants whose names they bear. 



343. Medicines. — The number of plants whose parts, — ■ 

 bark, seeds, dried leaves, flowers, etc., — or extracts from 

 whose parts, are or have been used in medicine, is very large. 

 Some of these plants have been referred to in previous chap- 

 ters. In many cases the medicinal properties reside in the 

 essential oils, and the extracted oils themselves are much used 

 in medicine. Some of the plant products that have been 

 spoken of on a previous page as used for their stimulating 

 or narcotic properties are also useful medicinallj^. This is 

 especially true of opium, from which morphin and laudanum 

 are obtained, and of coca leaves, which are the source of 

 cocain. A number of dnig plants are being increasingly 

 grown on a commercial scale in the United States. 



344. Fiber Plants. — With the exception of silk, wool, and 

 asbestos, all the important fibrous materials used in the 

 weaving of fabrics and in the making of twine, rope, and the 

 like, are derived from plants. Of fiber plants, the most 

 important is cotton, which has been cultivated from very 



