6 
senegal is produced by A. vera. By some it is thought that the timber 
of A. Arabica is identical with the Shittim tree, or wood of the Bible. 
From the flowers of A. farnesiana a choice and delicious perfume is 
obtained, the chief ingredient in many valued “balm of a thousand 
flowers.” The pods of A. concinna are used in India as a soap for 
washing; the leaves are used for culinary purposes, and have a pecu- 
liarly agreeable acid taste. The seeds of some species are used, when 
cooked, as articles of food. From the seeds of A. Niopo the Guahibo 
Indians prepare a snuff, by roasting the seeds and pounding them in a 
wooden platter. Its effects are to produce a kind of intoxication and 
invigoration of spirits. The bark of several species is extensively used 
for tanning, and the timber, being tough and elastic, is valuable for the 
manufacture of machinery, and other purposes where great strength 
and durability are requisite. 
ACALYPHA TRICOLOR.—A native of New Caledonia. This closely 
resembles the Stringwood plant of St. Helena, which is now supposed 
to be extinct. The name was given on account of the logg spikes of 
reddish-colored flowers which hung in great profusion from the twigs, 
which are also possessed by A. tricolor. 
ACROCOMIA SCLEROCARPA.—This palm grows all over South America. 
It belongs to the same tribe as the Cocoa-nut palm. The young leaves 
are eaten as a vegetable. 
ADANSONIA DIGITATA.—The Baobab tree is a native of Africa. It 
has been called the tree of a thousand years, and Humboldt speaks of 
it as “the oldest organic monument of our planet.” Adanson, who 
traveled in Senegal in 1794, made 2 calculation to show that one of 
these trees, thirty feet in diameter, must be 5,150 years old. The bark . 
of the Baobab furnishes a fiber, which is made into ropes and also 
manufactured into cloth. The fiber is so strong as to give rise to a 
common saying in Bengal, “as secure as an “elephant bound with 
Baobab rope.” The pulp of the fruit is slightly acid, and the juice 
expressed from it is valued as a specific in putrid and pestilential 
fevers. The ashes of the fruit and bark, boiled in rancid palm oil, 
make a fine soap. 
ADENANTHERA PAVONINA.—A tree that furnishes Red Sandal wood. 
A dye is obtained by simply rubbing tne wood against a wet stone, 
which is used by the Brahmins for marking their foreheads after 
religious bathing. The seeds are used by Indian jewelers as weights, 
each seed weighing uniformly four grains. Pounded and mixed with 
borax, they form an adhesive substance. ‘They are sometimes used as 
food. The plant belongs to the Leguminose. 3 
ADHATODA VASICA.—This plant is extolled for its charcoal in the 
manufacture of powder. The flowers, leaves, roots, and especially the 
fruit, are considered anti-spasmodic, and are administered in India in 
asthma and intermittent fevers. 
JEGLE MARMELOS.—This plant belongs to the Orange family, and 
its fruit is known in India as Bhel fruit. It is like an orange; the 
thick rind of the unripe fruit possesses astringent proprieties, and, when 
ripe, has an exquisite flavor and perfume. The fruit, and other parts of 
the plant, are used for medicinal purposes; and a yellow dye is pre- 
pared from the skin of the fruits. 
AGATI MuAareOnn —A genus of the Pea family, a native of the 
East Indies, but cultivated in many tropical countries for the beauty of 
its flowers. The seed-pods are very peculiar, being about eighteen 
inches in length, and not thicker than a common quill. In India the 
flowers, pods, and young leaves are used in curries. The juice of the 
