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1246 



ZADD. An Abyssinian name for Juni- 

 perits procera. 



ZADWAR. The Arab name of Curcuma 

 Zedoaria. 



ZAFRAN The Indian name for Crocus 

 sativus, whence our name Saffron. 



ZAHINA. A kind of Tare grown in 

 Spain. . 



ZAKKOUM. An oil obtained in Palestine 

 from Elceagnus hortensis angusiifolia. 



ZALACCA. One of the genera belonging 

 to the Calamece or scaty-fruited section of 

 the order of Palms. It is composed of six 

 or seven species, natives of Assam and the 

 coast of Burmah and Malacca, mostly grow- 

 ing in large masses in wet places, and 

 forming dense tufts, rendering the jungles 

 almost impassable. None of the species 

 have stems ; and their leaves, which are 

 pinnate and usually have tufted leaflets, 

 are without the long tail-like ends so con- 

 spicuous in many genera of the same sec- 

 tion ; but their sheathing stalks are armed 

 with spines arranged in rows. The two 

 sexes of flowers are borne on separate 

 plants, the flower-spikes having numerous 

 spathes at the bottom, and one round each 

 of the catkin-like branches : the male cat- 

 kins being made up of numerous pairs of 

 flowers within woolly cup- like bracts, and 

 the females of single flowers similarly 

 placed within bracts, and sometimes hav- 

 ing a barren flower at their side. Their 

 fruits, like those of the rest of the section, 

 are covered with overlapping scales ar- 

 ranged like plates of mail ; and contain 

 one two or three seeds, enveloped in a 

 thin fleshy coat, and having horny solid 

 albumen with a hole or pit at the top, and 

 the embryo at the bottom. 



The fleshy substance surrounding the 

 seeds of this genus is edible, though usu- 

 I ally very acid, particularly in Z. conferta, 

 I a common species in the fresh-water 

 marshes of Sumatra, called Palumbei, or 

 Assam-paya (i.e. bog-acid), by the Malays, 

 who use the pulp as a condiment with 

 their food, and the leaves in the manufac- 

 ture of resin-torches. Strips of the leaf- 

 stalks of Z.macrostachya are also used at 

 Malacca for tying on thatch, and for weav- 

 ing into baskets. [A. S.J 



ZALUZANIA. A Polish botanist is com- 

 memorated by this name, which desig- 

 nates a genus of Composite, including a 

 Mexican perennial plant, with divided 

 leaves, and corymbose or panicled heads 

 of flowers. The involucre has two rows of 

 scales, the inner of which are three-lobed, 

 as also are the scales on the receptacle. 

 The florets of the ray are ligulate, and fe- 

 male; those of the disk tubular, hispid and 

 perfect; stigmas hairy; outermost fruits 

 somewhat triangular hispid, those of the 

 centre smooth compressed ; pappus absent. 

 Z. triloba is in cultivation. [M. T. M.] 



ZAMBARONE. A Sicilian name for the 

 fibre of the Agave, used for making cord- 

 age and mats. 



ZAMIA. A genus of Cycadeacece, con- 

 sisting of moderate-sized trees, having 

 much of the appearance of palms, and in 

 some particulars of ferns. They have 

 stout generally unbranched stems, termi- 

 nated by tufts of thick pinnated leaves, 

 often spiny at the margins or points. The 

 male and female flowers are borne in cones, 

 composed of woody scales, with a trun- 

 cated six-sided summit; and each scale of 

 the female flower has two seeds. 



The species are natives of Central Ame- 

 rica, the West Indies, the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and South-eastern Africa, where 

 they frequently constitute a conspicuous 

 feature in the vegetation. One species, 

 native of Panama, is described as growing 

 on the trunks of other trees. The stems 



Zamia furfuracea. 



of these plants contain an abundance of 

 starchy matter, which is sometimes col- 

 lected and used as arrowroot. Z. tenuis 

 and Z. furfuracea are employed for this 

 purpose in the Bahamas. 



Several species are known in cultivation, 

 their stiff prickly foliage and palm-like 

 stems rendering them objects of much in- 

 terest. A noble collection of these and 

 nearly-allied plants may be seen in the 

 great Palm-house in Kew Gardens. There 

 is abundant evidence to suggest that in 

 former ages some of these cycads grew in 

 this country, as fossilised steins of plants 

 apparently belonging to this or to a closely- 

 allied genus are found in abundance in 

 some of the oolitic strata in the Isle of 

 Portland, where they are known to the 

 workmen as fossil birds'-nests, or some- 

 times as fossil pineapples. The trunks are 

 found, apparently as they grew, marked 

 with the scars of fallen leaves, but it is 

 singular that but few traces of perfect 

 leaves have yet been discovered. [M. T. MJ 



ZANNICHELLIA. A submerged aquatic 

 belonging to the order Naiadaceo?, distin- 

 guished from the allied genera Ruppia and 

 Potamogeton by having its minute flowers 

 imperfect and axillary, and its membran- 

 ous stigma dilated into a disk. Z. palustris, 



