38 
NERIUM OLEANDER.—This is a well-known plant, often seen in culti- 
vation, and seemingly a favorite with many. It belongs to a poisonous 
family, and is a dangerous poison. <A decoction of its leaves forms a 
wash, employed in the south of Europe to destroy cutaneous vermin ; 
and its powdered wood and bark constitute the basis of an efficacious 
rat-poison. Children have died from eating the flowers. A party of 
soldiers in Spain, having meat to roast in camp, procured spits and 
skewers of the tree, which there attains a large size. The wood having 
been stripped of its bark, and brought in contact with the meat, was 
productive of fatal consequences, for seven men died out of twelve who 
partook of the meat, and the other five were for some time danger- 
ously ill. 
NOTELAA EIGUSTRINA.—The Tasmanian Ironwood tree; isof medium 
growth, and furnishes wood that is extremely hard and dense, and used 
for making sheaves for ships’ blocks, and for other articles that require 
to be of great strength. The plant belongs to the Olive family. 
OCHROMA LAGOPUS-—A tree that grows about forty feet high, along 
the sea-shores in the West Indies and Central America, and known as 
the Cork wood. The wood is soft, spongy, and exceedingly light, and 
is used as a substitute for cork, both in stopping bottles and as floats 
for fishing-nets. It is also known as Balsa. 
CGHNOCARPUS BATAVA.—A South American palm, which yields a col- 
orless, sweet-tasted oil, used in Para for adulterating olive-oil, being 
nearly as good for this pur pose as peanut-oil, so largely used in Europe. 
A palatable but slightly aperient beverage i is prepared by triturating 
the fruits in water, and adding sugar and mandiocca flour. 
OLEA EHuROP#A.—The European Olive, which is popularly supposed 
to furnish all the olive-oil of commerce. It isa plant of slow growth, 
and of as slow decay. It is considered probable that trees at present 
existing in the Vale of Gethsemane are those which existed at the com- 
mencement of the Christian era. The oil is derived from the flesh of 
the fruit, and is pressed out of the braised pulp; inferior kinds are 
from second and third pressings. The best salad-oil is from Leghorn, 
and is sent in flasks surrounded by rushwork. Gallipoli oil is trans- 
ported in casks, and Lueca oil in jars. The pickling olives are the 
unripe fruits deprived of a portion of their bitterness by soaking in 
water in which lime and wood-ashes are sometimes added, and then 
bottled in salt and water, flavored with aromaties. 
ONcIDIUM PAPILIO.—This orchid is known as the Butterfly plant of 
Trinidad. It derives its common name from the appearance of its 
flowers, which are borne Singly upon the ends of very long, slender 
stalks, ‘and have a v ery Striking resemblance to a reddish-colored butter- 
fly, with its wings extended. 
OPHIOCARYON PARADOXUM.—The Snake-Nut tree of Guiana ; SO 
called on account of the curious form of the embryo of the seed, which is 
spirally twisted, so as to closely resemble a coiled up black snake. The 
fruits are as large as those of the black walnut, and although they are 
not known to possess any medical properties, their singular snake-like ~ 
form has induced the Indians to employ them as an “antidote to the 
poison of venomous snakes. “The plant belongs to the order of Sapin- 
dace. | 
OPHIORHIZA Muncos.—A plant belonging to the Cinchona family, 
the roots of which are reputed for curing snake-bites. They are in- 
tensely bitter, and from this circumstance they are called Earth-Galls by 
the Malays. 
