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blossom industry, is also found in the Congo Free State. Whether 

 the plant is there originally indigenous, is uncertain. Welwitsch is 

 of opinion that this species belongs to the flora indigenous to Angola, 

 and for this reason it is not impossible that it also occurs in the 

 Congo district. Acacia Farnesiana, as a matter of fact, is widely 

 distributed; apart from tropical Africa, it is also found in Egypt, India, 

 Australia, Hawaii, the Philippines, the West Indies, and North and 

 South America. In some districts the gum produced by this plant is 

 collected, and used instead of gum-arabic. Seeds, blossoms and bark 

 are frequently recommended for medicinal purposes, and various parts 

 of the plant are used in tanning and dyeing on account of their content 

 of tannin. In the United States this acacia is often designated with 

 the name Opoponax. 



In the South of France the plant is known under the names 

 Cassier du Levant, Casillier de Farnese, or simply Cassier, and in favour- 

 able positions it is cultivated there on a large scale. 



When the plants are three years old the blossom harvest com- 

 mences in the South of France. Each plant is capable of yielding 

 500 g. blossoms which are gathered twice weekly in the months of 

 September, October, November and occasionally December. 



In France and Algeria 150000 kilos cassie blossoms have been 

 gathered during the last few years. 



Whilst in Northern India since many years cassie pomade is pre- 

 pared from the blossoms of this acacia, in the real tropics it has 

 never been attempted to utilise the blossoms of the Acacia Famesiana, 

 although in the author's opinion the cultivation of this shrub could be 

 tried there under certain conditions. 



With regard to the physical constants and composition of oil of 

 acacia blossoms, we would refer to our Report of April 1904, p. 23, 

 where we have described the properties of a cassie blossom oil ob- 

 tained by us from Indian pomade (from Naini Tal). In an oil of 

 acacia blossoms which we have meanwhile isolated in the same manner 

 from French blossom extract, the following constants were as- 

 certained: di 5 o 1,0575, a D — o°30 / , n D220 1,51500; acid no. 25,4, 

 ester no. 229. The yield amounted to 5,65% of the extract. 



Cedar Leaf Oil. According to our previous observations 1 ) the 

 oil of cedar leaves of American commerce was never the oil from 

 the leaves of Juniperus virginiana L., as in North America two totally 

 different trees, Juniperus virginiana and Thuja occidental, are designated 

 as "cedar". A work by Hanson and Bab cock 2 ) on American oils 



*) Report April 1894, 57; Comp. also Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The 

 Volatile Oils, p. 278. 



2 ) Journ. Amer. chem. Soc. 28 (1906), 1198. 



