TAMA 



EI)£ (toatfurg at 2Sfltaujn 



1122 



T, anglica or T. gallica is a native of most 

 of the countries of Southern Europe, Asia 

 Minor, Tartary, Japan, Barbary, and Ara- 

 bia, especially in a saline soil. It was 

 known to the Greeks and Romans under 

 the name of Myrica, and frequent mention 

 of it occurs in the writings of the ancients. 

 It is to be found, apparently wild, on 

 various parts of the sea-coast of England, 

 hut is not believed to he indigenous. The 

 Tamarisk grows freely from cuttings, and 

 will bear exposure to any degree of wind. 

 The stems and leaves abound in sulphate 

 of soda, and a species either closely allied 

 to or identical with the common Tamarisk 

 produces in Arabia a substance considered 

 by the Bedouins a great dainty, and 

 called by them mann or manna, from its 

 outward resemblance to the 'manna' of 

 Scripture. In the month of June it drops 

 from the branches upon the fallen twigs 

 and leaves, which always cover the ground 

 beneath the tree, and being collected and 

 cleaned is eaten with bread. Some travel- 

 lers suppose this substance to be not an 

 exudation from the tree, but the produce 

 of an insect which infests the Tamarisk. 

 It is said to be most abundant in rainy 

 seasons. French: Tamarisc; German: 

 Tamarisken. [C. A. J.] 



TAMARIX DE NARBONNE. (Frj Ta- 

 marix gallica. 



TAMATTE. A Malayan name for Lyco- 

 persicum esculentum. 



TAMBOOKIE-WOOD. A hard handsome 

 wood, which when powdered is used by 

 the South African Zulus as an emetic. 



TAMBULI. An Indian name for the leaf 

 of the Betel-pepper. 



TAMIER. (Fr.) Tamas. 



TAMKAI. An Indian name for Termi- 

 nalia Bellerica, the kernels of whose seeds 

 are eaten. 



TAMPDI. The edible fruit of Eedycar- 

 pus malayanus. 



TAMUS. The only European representa- 

 tive of the order Dioscoreacece, and distin- 

 guished from other genera by its fruit 

 being a roundish three-celled berry crown- 

 ed with the remains of the flower, and 

 containing one or two seeds in each cell, 

 the cell-partitions becoming obsolete in 

 the ripe fruits. There are two well-known 

 species, T. communis, the Black Bryony of 

 our hedges, and T. cretica, a native of 

 Greece and the Greek Archipelago. They 

 are both climbing plants, and have thick 

 tuberous roots, sending up annual twining 

 stems, which grow to a great length, and 

 climb over bushes and hedges. The 

 former has entire heart-shaped taper- 

 pointed leaves; and the latter trilohed 

 leaves, heart-shaped at the base, with the 

 side-lobes large and rounded, and the 

 middle one lance-shaped. Their flowers 

 are of separate sexes, borne on different 

 plants, and are produced in the leaf-axils— 

 the males in slender branched racemes, 

 the females in shorter racemes. 



The large fleshy roots of the Black 

 Bryony contain an abundance of acrid 

 clammy juice, and were formerly used in 

 the preparation of stimulating plaisters. 

 Rustic practitioners employ them for re- 

 moving the discoloration of the skin 

 from bruises. The fruits steeped in gin 

 are a popular remedy for chilblains ; Avhile 

 the Greeks use the young suckers of both 

 species like Asparagus, which they much 

 resemble. [A. S.] - 



TAN. The bark of oak and other trees 

 used for tanning leather. Half-spent fan 

 is used by gardeners for making hotbeds. 



TANACETUM. A genus of perennials 

 belonging to the tribe Corymbiferm of 

 compound flowers, and allied both in cha- 

 racters and properties to Artemisia. T. 

 vulgare, the Common Tansy, is an erect 

 herbaceous plant one to two feet high, 

 with repeatedly-divided deeply-cut leaves, 

 and terminal corymbs of button-like flower- 

 heads, of which all the florets are yellow. 

 All parts of the plant have a strong aro- 

 matic scent, and an exceedingly bitter 

 taste. Tansy was formerly much employed 

 in medicine, and still retains its place in 

 some cookery-books as an ingredient in 

 puddings cakes and omelets, viands which 

 now rarely appear at table. Tansy-wine also 

 still enjoys some reputation among rustic 

 practitioners as a stomachic. A variety 

 with curled leaves is cultivated as an orna- 

 mental plant for garnishing dishes. None 

 of the foreign species are worthy of par- 

 ticular notice. French : Tanaisie ; German : 

 Rheinfarrn. [C. A. J.] 



TA1NLECIUM (including Schlegelia) . A 

 genus of climbing shrubs belonging to the 

 Crescentiacecp, and confined to the "West 

 Indies and the tropical parts of South Ame- 

 rica. Their branches are often rooting, 

 their leaves either simple or trifoliolate ; 

 their flowers white pink scarlet or violet in 

 colour, arranged in axillary or terminal 

 racemes or panicles: and their fruit is an 

 indehiscent oblong berry, either black 

 or grey, in some species scarcely larger 

 than a coffee-berry, and in others assum- 

 ing the dimensions of a large shaddock. 

 The calyx is cup-shaped five-ribbed per- 

 sistent, and obscurely five-toothed ; the 

 corolla tubular, and towards the top be- 

 coming funnel-shaped ; the stamens are 

 four in number, with the rudiment of a 

 fifth ; and the fruit is two-celled. T.para- 

 siticum of Jamaica is an inmate of our hot- 

 houses, and climbs over walls or trees like 

 ivy. T. lilacinum (.or Schlegelia lilacina) has 

 an edible berry called in Guiana Emosse 

 beroy, and used by the natives for dyeing 

 their cotton cloth and straw furniture. The 

 fruit of T. albiflorum of Jamaica is em- 

 ployed for poultices. [B. S.] 



TANDONIA. A genus of BaseUacece from 

 Peru and New Grenada. The stem is often 

 twining, with alternate entire leaves, and 

 fleshy blossoms in long slender in any-flow- 

 ered simple or branched spikes. The outer 

 calyx is two-cleft, the inner five-parted; 

 the stamens five, united at the base ; the 



