72 DIOTIOI^ARY OF POPULAE NAMES BXJTTERWORT 



sweet pulp and a bony seed with a kernel, wMch, after being 

 separated from tbe shell, is pounded and boiled, when a fatty 

 substance swims on the top of the water, which is strained off, 

 and when cold resembles butter. It was first brought into 

 notice by Mungo Park, who found the trees abundant in the 

 kingdom of Bambarra. It is an extensive article of trade with 

 the natives, and forms an important food product. It has tlie 

 consistence of tallow, is quite white, and has a fatty, often rancid 

 taste. It has recently become an article of trade with this coun- 

 try for soap-making. 4 Pentadesma hutyraceaj a tree of the Gam- 

 boge family (Guttiferae), native of Sierra Leone and other paits 

 of Western tropical Africa. It attains the height of 30 or 40 

 feet, and bears an ovoid fruit of a dark brown colour, containing a 

 yellow, greasy juice, which is used by the natives mixed with 

 their food, but its strong turpentine flavour is not palatable 

 to Europeans. It is sold as butter in the markets of Free- 

 town, but it must not be confounded with Shea butter. 5. 

 Chignite, the Kaffir name of a substance obtained from Com- 

 Iretum littyraceii^m, a climbing shrub or tree of the Myrobalan 

 family (Combretaceas), native of South-Eastern Africa. This 

 substance is white, hard, and somewhat aromatic, and is taken 

 to Mozambique as an article of commerce. It is not known 

 whether it is obtained from the kernel of the fruit or from the 

 bark, but probably the latter, and it is of a similar nature to the 

 substance called Vegetable Glue produced by C. giiaym (which 

 see). 



Butterwort {Pingimula 'vulgaris), a small perennial plant 

 with oblong lanceolate leaves in the form of a rosette close 

 to the ground, from which rises a slender stem bearing a 

 single flower. It belongs to the family of Bladderworts (Len- 

 tibulariacese), and is a native of this country, growing in 

 ^oggy ground, and is also abundant in Scotland. Its leaves 

 are greasy to the touch, and have the property of coagulating 

 milk. On account of flies and other insects adhering to the 

 leaves it has recently been ranked with the sundews as a 

 carnivorous plant. 



