411 



Cfjs STrcasurg af 33ntanp, 



[diot 



either bell or f unnel-shaped ; the males 

 have six stamens, and the females a three- 

 celled ovary, surmounted by a style se- 

 parating into three stigmas. 



Tnder the name of Tarns, the large 

 fleshy tuberous roots of several species of 

 this genus are extensively used for food 

 in many tropical and subtropical countries, 

 where they are largely cultivated, and 

 take the place of our potatoes.. Among 

 the species most commonly employed for 

 this purpose are : B. sativa, which is a na- 

 tive of Malabar, Java, and the Philippines ; 

 B. alata of the Moluccas and Java, and B. 

 aculeata of Malabar, Cochin China, and 

 Java, all of which are cultivated in various 

 parts of tropical Asia, and likewise in the 

 West Indies, where they have been intro- 

 duced : besides which, B. gldbosa, B. pur- 

 purea, B. rubella, and D. fasiculata are 

 cultivated in India, and other species else- 

 where. Yams vary greatly iu size and colour, 

 according to the species or variety pro- 

 ducing them ; many attain a length of two 

 or three feet, and weigh from 30 to 40 lbs. ; 

 some are white, others purplish through- 

 out, while some have a purple skin with 

 whitish flesh, and others are pink, or even 

 black. Like potatoes they contain a large 

 quantity of starch ; and a nutritious meal, 

 used for making cakes, puddings, &c, is 

 prepared from them in the West Indies, 

 where, also, they are commonly sliced and 

 dried in the sun in order to preserve 

 them. 



One species, the Chinese or Japanese Yam, 

 B. Batatas, has recently come into notice in 

 this country, where it has been recom- 

 mended for cultivation as a substitute for 

 the potato ; but although it succeeds very 

 well when properly managed, it has not as 

 yet found much favour among agricul- 

 turists. The chief drawback connected 

 with it, is the great depth to which the 

 roots penetrate into the earth, and the 

 consequent difficulty of extracting them. 

 It is extensively grown and used for food 

 in China and Japan. [A. S.] 



DIOSMA. A genus of heath-like plants, 

 natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 belonging to Rutacea. It is nearly al- 

 lied to Barosma, but differs in that the 

 flowers have Ave fertile stamens, and no 

 sterile ones, in the style being shorter than 

 the stamens, in the more narrow leaves, and 

 in other minor points. They possess a fra- 

 grance not unlike that of the kinds of 

 Bucku (Barosma), and many of them are 

 cultivated for their white or pinkish flow- 

 ers, the most frequently met with being 

 B. capitate, and ericoides. [M. T. M.] 



DIOSPYROS. Large hard-wooded'trees, 

 or rarely shrubs, belonging to the Ebena- 

 cece, which is so named in consequence of 

 several species of this genus yielding the 

 black wood called ebony. There are upwards 

 of 100 species, the greater part of them 

 natives of Asia and the Mauritius, only 

 about a dozen being found on the Ameri- 

 can continent, and three or four in Africa ; 

 for the most part they are confined to the 

 tropics, but a few extend as far north as 



, latitude 44°. They have flowers of se- 

 parate sexes on different trees, and 

 borne in little clusters, or singly at the 

 bases of the leaves ; the calyx divided 

 into from four to six lobes ; and the corolla 

 tubular or bell-shaped. The fruit is fleshy 

 or pulpy, generally either globose or egg- 

 shaped, and varies greatly in size. 



Ebony wood is obtained from several 

 species of this genus. The best and most 

 costly kind, with the blackest and finest 

 grain, is that imported from the Mauritius, 

 which is yielded by B. reticulata. East 

 Indian ebony is mostly procured from two 

 species, B. Helanoxylon aud B. Ebeu aster ; 

 while the best kind of Ceylon ebony is ob- 

 tained from B. Ebenum. It is only the 

 inner part of the trunk or heart-wood, as it 

 is called, that yields the black ebony, the 

 outer portion or sap-wood being white and 

 soft. The chief uses of ebony are for fancy 

 cabinet-making, mosaic work, and turnery, 

 and for making a vast number of small I 

 articles, such as knife handles, door knobs ! 

 and plates, pianoforte keys, &c. 



B. quwsita produces the beautiful wood 

 called Calamander in Ceylon, and which i 

 the Cinghalese use for making the finest i 

 kinds of ornamental furniture. It is a very 

 large tree, and the wood is so extremely 

 hard that it is only worked with great dif- ! 

 Acuity. B. JEmbryopteris is a tree called 

 Gaub by the Hindus. Its fruit is power- | 

 fully astringent, and is employed for tan- ! 

 ning purposes. The juice of the unripe 

 fruit is very viscid, and is used in India for 

 paying the seams of boats ; fishing nets 

 are also coated with it to render them 

 more durable. 



The fruit of the Kaki or Chinese Date 

 Plum, B. Kaki, is as large as an ordinary 

 apple, of a bright red colour, and contains 

 a yellow semi-transparent pulp resembling 

 the flesh of a plum, both in appearance and 

 flavour. The Chinese dry them in the sun, 

 and make them into sweetmeats. The tree 

 is a native of China and Japan, but is culti- 

 vated in India. B. virginiana is the Vir- 

 ginian Date Plum or Persiinon, a native 

 of the United States, where it attains a 

 height of fifty or sixty feet, with a trunk 

 about a foot and a half in diameter, the 

 heart-wood of which is of a brown colour, 

 hard and elastic, but liable to split. The 

 fruit of the Persimon is an inch or more in 

 diameter, nearly round, and of a yellowish 

 orange colour, very austere and astringent 

 even when quite ripe, but when bletted or 

 softened by the action of frost it becorffes 

 eatable. In the Southern States, Persimons 

 are pounded and made into cakes with 

 bran, and by adding yeast and hops to an 

 infusion of the cakes a kind of beer is 

 brewed ; or, by fermenting and distilling 



j them they yield a spirituous liquor. The 

 bark of the tree is very bitter, and pos- 



j sesses febrifugal properties ; it has been 

 successfully employed by American physi- 



i cians in cases of cholera infantum and 



; diarrhoea. [A. S.] 



I DIOTIS. A Siberian shrub belonging to 

 the Chenopodiaceee, deriving its name, sig- 



