DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 265 



Dye plants — Continued. 



Bixa orellana. — Pulp surrounding seeds reddish orange; prepared for market it 

 is called arnatto or annatto; used for coloring cheese and butter, and sometimes 

 for dyeing silk, but it is not permanent. In Guam the natives put it in soup and 

 with rice. 



Biancaea sappan. — Bark, wood, and roots yield yellow and red dye; red inten- 

 sified by alkalies; pods with protosulphate of iron yield a black dye. Sometimes 

 used by natives of Guam for dyeing, but supplanted by introduced aniline dyes. 



Casuarina equisetifolia. — Bark yields a dye, reddish alone, blue-black with salts 

 of iron; in some countries used to dye fishing nets. 



Curcuma longa. — Old rhizomes may be used for dyeing yellow without mordants; 

 color deepened to reddish orange by alkalies, with carbonate of soda bright yel- 

 low, with indigo green; color not lasting. 



Indigofera anil and Indigofera tinctoria. — Abundant on island in abandoned 

 fields, but not utilized. 



Intsia bijuga. — Fresh wood yields a brown dye; not utilized. 



Lawsonia alba. — The "henna" of the Egyptians. Leaves yield a red stain for 

 nails and hair. Not used in Guam. 



Morinda citrifolia. — Wood, small roots, and root bark. 



Ochrocarpus obovalis. — Heartwood of tree yields a red dye. 



Pithecolobium dulce. — Bark yields a yellow dye. 



Rhizophora mucronata. — Bark yields a brown dye. 



Tamarindus indica. — Leaves yield a red dye; flowers and fruit acid, acting as a 

 mordant. 



Terminalia catappa. — Bark and leaves yield a black dye with salts of iron; in 

 some parts of India used to blacken teeth and make ink. 



Thespesia populnea. — Bark and wood yield a red coloring matter; capsules and 

 flowers a yellow dye; little used. 



Dyeweed. See Eclipta alba. 



Earthnut. See Arachis hypogaea. 



Ech.inoch.loa colona. Jungle rice. 



Family Poaceae. 

 An annual grass, often growing as a weed in cultivated places, closely allied to the 

 common barnyard or cockspur grass ( Echinochloa crus-galli) . Stem erect or decum- 

 bent, rather slender, leaves flat, narrowly linear, smooth or scaberulous; spikelets 

 in 3 rows, globose or ovoid, acute, crowded on the under surface of the racemed 

 spikes; raceme contracted; spikes 5 to 12, distant, suberect or appressed, 2.5 to 3.5 

 cm. long/usually distant, rachis pilose; glumes and lower palea hispid on the nerves, 

 pointed ; fertile flower barely pointed. 



The typical form of this grass differs from E. crus-galli, but there is a gradual tran- 

 sition from one to the other. It is widely distributed throughout the warmer regions 

 of the world. It is found in the United States in Virginia, Florida, Texas, and 

 southern California. It was first collected in Guam by Gaudichaud. The type 

 locality is East Indian. The cultivated form yields a grain which forms a food staple 

 in many parts of northern India. A paste, or mush, is made of it, called "bat" or 

 "phat," and eaten with milk. This preparation constitutes the chief food of the 

 natives of some districts. « It is an excellent fodder grass, both before and after it 

 has flowered, the abundant grain adding to its nutritive value. 



References: 

 Echinochloa colona (L.) Link, Hort. Berol. 2: 209. 1833. 

 Panicum colonum L. Syst. ed. 10. 870. 1759. 

 Echinus sp. 



Family Euphorbiaceae. 



Local names. — Alom, Alum (Guam). 

 A tree growing in marshy or damp places, with linden-like leaves. Flowers small, 

 monoecious, apetalous, greenish, the males clustered, the female solitary in the 

 bracts; male flower with globose or ovoid calyx, 3 to 5-parted; stamens 20 or more, 



« Watt, Economic Products of India, vol. 6, pt. 1, pp. 7, 8, 1892. 



