258 DICTIONARY OF POFTJLAE 3S"AMES MIIZENA 



vated there as bread corn before tlie conq^uest. Since the dis- 

 covery of South America it has spread, and is now cultivated in 

 all tropical and sub -tropical countries^ forming a staple article 

 of food. Large quantities are exported from the ports of the 

 United States to this country, and largely used for feeding 

 horses. Several preparations are made from the flour and sold 

 in shops as Hominy, Oswego, and Maizena. The cane yields 

 sugar nearly equal in quality to that of the sugar-cane, but the 

 yield is not sufficient to pay the expense of its abstraction. The 

 late celebrated politician and writer William Cobbett attempted 

 to bring it into cultivation in this country, and for several years 

 grew it extensively on his farm at iL^me Elms in Surrey. It 

 grows freely, and produces crops which in hot summers ripen ; 

 but the average of good summers is too small to secure a regu- 

 lar crop. The terrible disease known in Italy by the name of 

 pellagra is attributed to the use of bread made of undressed 

 maize flour. (^See Glucose.) 



Maizena. (See Maize.) 



Maja. A name of the Ivory ITut Palm. 



Malacca Cane {Calamus SGijnonujJi), a wing-leaved, erect, 

 slender, cane-stemmed palm (Palmace^), which when dressed is 

 of a brown colour. These stems are sometimes mottled or 

 clouded. It is a native of Cochin-China, Sumatra, and some 

 of the Malayan Islands. They come to this country from 

 Singapore, and form the much-prized Malacca walking-canes. 



Malambo Bark {CrotoTi malamhd), a shrub of the Spurge- 

 wort family (Euphorbiace^e), native of Venezuela and New 

 Grenada, growing to a height of about 4 feet, having a 

 yellowish, somewhat corlcf bark, highly aromatic, like Calamus 

 aromaticus. It is much valued for medicinal purposes, and is 

 even said to have proved useful in the treatment of cholera. In 

 the United States it is said to be largely used for mixing with 

 ground spices. The aromatic character seems to indicate that 

 this plant belongs to some other family than the one here 

 given. 



Male Fern (Zastrea Filix-mas), — It is one of our handsomest 



