﻿40 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



food in various ways. Steamed it can be used in the place of rice, as far as 

 nutrition and digestibility are concerned. Prepared as a porridge it has the 

 taste of oatmeal and is as good to eat as the latter. If ground into meal and 

 mixed with wheat flour, half and half, bread can be made from it. The bread 

 is much more delicious and not so sour as the common kleffe bread used here 

 in the Dutch Indies. Pancakes and pastries can also be made from the meal. 

 The plant can be grown on all sorts of soil. More attention should be paid to 

 this plant than has been hitherto.' (P. W. Van der Broek.) 



" Djali bras and djali watol are two species, both of which belong to the 

 genus Coix or Chionachne of the family Graminese. Job's-tears is a common 

 name for either both, or especially for djali watol; hence, also the scientific 

 name Coix laeryma-jobi. 



" Some details about djali are found in an article by Van der Kemp in the 

 Tijdschrift voor Nijverheid en Landbouv, vol. 20, p. 32. According to Van 

 der Kemp, only two species of the edible djali are distinguished : Djali padi, 

 Coix Jcoenigii, originally from Sumatra, rare at Java ; and djali ketan, the 

 common Coix agrestis. 



" For the following information I am obliged to Heyne. There appears in 

 a report by the Internationale Crediet en Handelsvereeniging Rodderdam at 

 Cheribon, dated 1912, a statement to the effect that about 1,000 piculs (a picul 

 is 133£ lbs.) of djali were exported annually to Palembang and to the east 

 coast of Sumatra. The price varied in the shipping harbors in the same year 

 between 6 and 7 gulden (a gulden, or guilder, is $0,402) per picul. 



" There are divergent reports as to the food value of djali. However, that 

 it is a nourishing and wholesome product is certain." (Excerpted from W. G. 

 Boorsma, Teysmannia, vol. 29, No. 1, p. 59.) 



48082. Cassia tora L. Csesalpiniacese. 



From the Belgian Kongo. Presented by Father Hyacinthe Vanderyst, 



Mission Catholique, Leverville, Moyen Kwilu. Received September 29, 



1919. 



An erect, almost glabrous annual, widely distributed through tropical Africa 



and through the Tropics generally. The plant attains a height of 2 to 3 



feet, although the stem occasionally becomes arborescent in Guinea. From 



the seeds is made a most useful yellow dye, suitable for tasar silk; this is 



regularly sold to dyers to combine with indigo to produce a green shade. 



The seeds are also roasted and ground to form a substitute for coffee. Along 



the Gambia River, on the west coast of Africa, the stalks and tender leaves 



are eaten as food. The leaves and roots are each used as a remedy for ulcers 



and ringworms. (Adapted from Oliver, Flora of Tropical Africa, vol. 2, p. 



275; Holland, Useful Plants of Nigeria, pt. 2, p. 260; and Watt, Dictionary of 



the Economic Products of India, vol. 2, p. 22J/.) 



48083. Eugenia sp. Myrtaceas. 



From Sawtelle, Calif. Presented by Mr. P. D. Barnhart. Received Sep- 

 tember 29, 1919. 

 "An interesting Eugenia from South America, especially valuable for orna- 

 mental planting in California and Florida. It is evergreen, with small dark 

 glossy-green leaves. The young leaves and twigs are a beautiful red. The 

 plants lend themselves to shearing and will make excellent hedge plants as 

 well as trained specimens for tubs, etc." (Peter Bisset.) 



