108 SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



Ilex Cassine, Linne. 



Soutliern States of North America. A Tea-bush, to whicli 

 also remarkable medicinal properties are ascribed. 



Ilex Paraguensis, St. Hilaire. 



Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil. The Mate. This 

 Holly-bush is inserted into this list rather as a stimulating 

 medicinal plant, than as a substitute for the ordinary Tea- 

 plant. Chemical principles: Coflfein, Quina-acid and a 

 peculiar tannic acid, which latter can be converted into 

 Yiridin-acid. 



Illicium anisatum, Linne. 



China and Japan. The Star-Anis. An evergreen shrub or 

 small tree. The starry fruits used in medicine and as a con- 

 diment. Their flavour rests on a peculiar volatile oil with 

 Anethol. This species and a few others deserve culture also 

 as ornamental bushes. 



Imperata arundinacea, Cp-illo. 



South Europe, North Africa, South and East Asia, Australia. 

 Almost a sugar-cane in miniature. Valuable for binding 

 sand, especially in wet localities. 



Indigofera Anil, Linne. 



Recorded as indigenous to West India, and as extending 

 naturally through Continental America from Carolina to 

 Brazil. A shrub several feet high. Pods sickle-shaped, 

 short, compressed. One of the principal Indigo plants under 

 cultivation both in the eastern and western hemispheres. 

 Only in the warmest parts of our colony can we hope to pro- 

 duce Indigo with remunerative success. But many of the 

 hardier species seem never yet tested for pigment. Already 

 114 are recorded alone from extra-tropical Southern Africa. 

 An Indigofera of Georgia, said to be wild, perhaps I. Anil, 

 yields an excellent product. The pigment in all instances is 

 obtained by maceration of the foliage, aeration of the liquid 

 and inspissation of the sediment. 



Indigofera argentea, Linne. (/. coerulea, Roxburgh). 



Tropical and extra-tropical Northern Africa, Arabia, India. 

 A shrub several feet high, closely allied to I. Anil, and like- 

 wise a good Indigo-plant. 



Indigofera tinctoria, Linne. 



Warmest part of Asia, as far east as Japan, recorded also 

 from tropical Africa and even Natal. A shrubby plant, 

 attaining a height of six feet. Pods straight, cylindrical, 

 many-seeded. Extensively cultivated in warm zones for 

 Indigo, and probably hardy in our northern and eastern low- 



