SANDAL OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 365 



high, having small, inconspicuous umbels of flowers, of a greenish 

 yellow colour. Its leaves are compound, ternate, the divisions 

 lanceolate, succulent, and of a glaucous white colour. It was 

 formerly used as a pickle ; but is now nearly obsolete. Other sea 

 plants are sometimes substituted for Samphire. 



Sandbox Tree {Hura cre^pitans), a large, strong -growing 

 tree of the Spurgewort family (Euphorbiaceae). It is common 

 throughout Western tropical America, and has long been culti- 

 vated in the hothouses of this country. Instances have been 

 known of the juice of this plant causing fatal injury to the eyes. 

 The fruit is very curious, being of a circular form, consisting of 

 from 12 to 15 valved cells, which give it the appearance of a 

 wheel about 3 inches in diameter, each cell containing a single 

 fiat seed. It is often kept as a curiosity, but with overheat or 

 dryness it bursts with a report as loud as a pistol, spreading its 

 seeds and valves sometimes to a distance of several feet. 



Sandal-wood {Santalum alhcm), a small tree of the family 

 Santalacece, about 25 feet high, and seldom more than a foot 

 in diameter, with nearly opposite oblong leaves of a light 

 colour. It is a native of various parts of India, particularly 

 Malabar and Coromandel, as well as in the Pacific and Malavan 

 Islands. According to the size and age of the tree the interior 

 is of a dark or light yellow colour, and it is the heart-wood 

 that is the valuable part ; it is highly fragrant. The burning 

 of incense has from the earliest ages been intimately connected 

 with the religious sentiments of man — being practised by 

 Pagan, Jew, and Christian. In the Catholic churches of the 

 latter various kinds of aromatic gum-resins are used, while in 

 Pagan temples Sandal-wood holds the highest rank, pieces of the 

 wood, varying in size according to circumstances, being burned 

 before the images of their deities, and the millions of Brahmins 

 and Buddhists, on beholding the smoke of the incense curling 

 heavenward, presume they have performed their religious 

 duties, and that the perfume smelt by their deity will obtain 

 forgiveness of sins. In Chinese temples joss sticks (candles), 

 made of sawdust of Sandal -wood and swine's dung, are 



