TAMAEISK OF ECONOMIC PLAIs^TS. 401 



Tallow Tree {Stillingia seUfeni), sl tree of the Spurgewort 

 family (Eupliorbiace^), native of Cliina, where it is, as well as 

 in India and some warm parts of America, extensively cultivated. 

 It is a small tree, with rhomboid tapering leaves and a three- 

 celled capsular fruit, each cell containing a single seed thickly 

 coated with a white greasy substance that yields tallow, of 

 which candles are made; it has been used in this country 

 in the manufacture of soap, and as a substitute for linseed oil, 

 also for dressing cloth and for burning in lamps, 



Tamanu. (See Bitter Oil.) 



Tamarind (Tamanndus indica), a wing-leaved spreading- 

 branched tree of the Bean family (Legumhaosse). In India it 

 is said to attain a height of 80 feet, and a girth of 25 feet. It 

 is also found wild in Arabia and Egypt, and has become in- 

 digenous in the West Indies. It has flat pods, about 4 or 6 

 inches in length, which contain a sweet pulp. These pods are 

 pressed in syrup or sugar, and form the preserved Tamarinds of 

 the shops. 



Tamarind, Velvet (Oodarium acutifoUum), a small tree of 

 the Bean family (Leguminosae), having winged coriaceous leaves, 

 native of Sierra Leone. The seed-pods are about the size and 

 form of a filbert, and are covered with a beautiful black velvety 

 down. They contain an agreeable acid farinaceous substance, 

 which is used as food. 



Tamarisk, Common (Tmnarix gallica), a heath-leaved shrub 

 of the Tamarisk family (Tamaricace^), common on the southern 

 coasts of this country, and the coasts of the Atlantic and 

 Mediterranean. It or an allied species {F, manmfcra) is common 

 in the Peninsula of Sinai. Its stems are punctured by a small 

 insect of the Cynips family, from which a juice exudes, which 

 hardens, and is collected by the Bedouin Arabs and made into 

 cakes, and called Manna. It is sweet, and consists of a mucila- 

 ginous sugar, and forms a small article of commerce at the 

 present day. It is by some supposed to be the manna of the 

 Israelites, but it does not in all points agree with the descriptions 

 of that substance. {See Manna.) 



2 B 



