TAMUS. 



284 



TAN. 



( Myricaria germdnica, Desv.), the 

 German Tamarisk. The French Ta- 

 marisk is by far the handsomest, and 

 as it will thrive close to the sea-shore, 

 and produces its long terminal spikes 

 of pinkish flowers in autumn, when 

 people generally visit the coast, it is 

 a most valuable shrub for the gardens 

 of sea-port towns. It should be 

 grown in a deep sandy soil, and it is 

 propagated by cuttings taken off in 

 autumn. 



Tamus. — Dioscoriacece or Tamece. 

 — The Black Bryony. There are two 

 kinds of Bryony common in English 

 woods very different in the eyes of a 

 botanist, but bearing considerable re- 

 semblance to each other in the eyes 

 of an amateur. They are both found 

 wild in hedges and thickets, through 

 which they contrive to insinuate their 

 long slender stems and branches, 

 hanging from tree to tree ; they have 

 both greenish - white inconspicuous 

 flowers ; the fruit of both consists of 

 bunches of showy red berries ; and 

 both of which have tuberous roots, 

 of a very acrid nature. They are 

 also both dioecious ; but this is 

 the only botanical resemblance be- 

 tween them. The White Bryony 

 {Bryonia didica) belongs to the Na- 

 tural Order Cucurbitaceae, and it is 

 the only British plant belonging to 

 that order. Its leaves are rough 

 aDd palmate ; its flowers have a 

 calyx and a corolla, both of which are 

 five-cleft, and its stem is climbing 

 and furnished with numerous ten- 

 drils. The Black Bryony {Tamus 

 commilnis) has, on the contrary, 

 smooth, shining, heart-shaped leaves 

 of a very deep and glossy green ; the 

 flowers consist of only one covering, 

 which is six-cleft, and its stem is 

 twining without tendrils. The names 

 of Black and White Bryony allude 

 to the colour of the skin covering the 

 roots, which in one species is black 

 and in the other white. The root 



of the White Bryony may easily 

 be made to grow in any shape that 

 may be wished by placing it when 

 young in an earthenware mould. This 

 curious property was formerly fre- 

 quently taken advantage of by de- 

 signing people, who having thus ob- 

 tained roots of frightful forms, showed 

 them for money as natural curiosities. 

 The Black Bryony belongs to the 

 same natural order as the Yam. For 

 the Elephant's-foot, which was for- 

 merly considered to belong to the 

 genus Tamus, see Testudinaria. 



Tan. — The bark of Oak or of other 

 trees, after it has been used by tan- 

 ners. When it is received by gar- 

 deners from the tan-pits, it is gene- 

 rally wet and without heat ; but 

 after it has been laid in a ridge in an 

 open shed for two or three weeks, 

 and turned over two or three times, 

 it becomes drier and begins to fer- 

 ment, when heat is evolved in a 

 greater or lesser degree according to 

 the size of the mass. In this state it 

 is fit to be introduced into pits or 

 beds in hothouses for the purpose of 

 supplying bottom-heat. For ordinary 

 purposes the bed or layer of tan need 

 not be thicker than eighteen inches or 

 two feet, but when a very powerful 

 heat is required, double that thick- 

 ness is desirable. The pots in which 

 the plants are contained, when large, 

 should at first not be plunged more 

 than half their depth in the tan ; or 

 even, in some cases, they should be 

 set on its surface. But after the first 

 violent heat has subsided, they may 

 be plunged to the brim. When the 

 heap begins to cool, in consequence of 

 the fermentation diminishing, the tan 

 may be turned over and the pots re- 

 plunged, adding a little fresh tan, if 

 necessary, to keep the pit to the pro- 

 per degree of fulness. When the heat 

 subsides a second time, the tan may 

 be again turned and a larger portion 

 of fresh material added ; and the third 



