CAOUTCHOUC OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 85 



hats, mats, etc., and also for ropes and suspension liridges. They 

 are largely imported into this country, under the name of 

 Eattans, for making chair bottoms and other wicker-work 

 purposes. 



Other species of the same genus grow erect, and may pro- 

 perly be called Canes, the most conspicuous being C, scipionum, 

 the stems of which, when polished, are of a chestnut brown 

 colour, and form the fashionable Malacca canes. It does not 

 come from Malacca, but from Siak, on the opposite coast of 

 Sumatra. 



Cannibal Apple (Solanum antJiropojohagoTui7i), a soft, bushy 

 shrub of the Nightshade family (Solanaceae), attaining the height 

 of 6 feet, having dark-green leaves similar to those of the love 

 apple. It is a native of Fiji, where its fruit figures in the 

 cannibal feasts of the natives. 



Cannon-ball Tree {Coic7vitpita guianensis), a large tree of 

 the Monkey-pot family (Lecythidese), native of Guiana. Its 

 large white flowers are produced in clusters on the stem and 

 branches. Its fruit resembles a ball 6 to 8 inches in diameter, 

 of a hard woody texture, surrounded by a circular scar near the 

 centre, which marks the separation of the Hmb of the calyx. 

 The seeds are numerous, embedded in pulp, which when fresh 

 is of an agreeable flavour, but when dried or exposed to the air 

 has a most abominable odour, which it retains for years. 



Canvas. {See Hemp.) 



Caoutchouc, better known by the name of India-rubber, is 

 the thickened milky juice of trees, principally of the Bread-fruit, 

 Mulberry, Dogbane, Swallowwort, and Spurgewort families, 

 the original and still greatest quantities being obtained from one 

 or two species of Mevea, a genus of the latter family. They are 

 lofty trees, natives of ITorth Brazil, Guiana, and different parts 

 of Central America, Sevea Irasiliensis being the best known. 

 It is a tree attaining the height of 50 to 100 feet, and has 

 smooth trifoliate leaves, similar in size and form to those of the 

 scarlet-runner. The flowers are inconspicuous, unisexual, and 

 borne in loose panicles. The fruit is a three-valved capsule, con- 



