72 



NUTS. II.* 



From Report by Messrs. Jen MAN & Harrison B. Guiana. 

 "Wherever the water lily, Nelumbium speciosum, has been established 

 in the trenches of sugar estates, the coolies gather the seeds and use 

 them for food. They also use Nymphce i seed, pounding or rolling it 

 into a flour-like paste. Adding the seed of the native Victoria regia, 

 which, so far as we kno.v, is not used, but which, judging by the few 

 that grow in the trenches where the plants exist, out of the great 

 abundance produced, seems to be eaten freely by water animals, we 

 resolv d to ascertain their respective composition as food stuffs by 

 chemical analysis Though dHering much in their composition, the 

 analysis show that all are valuable food stuffs The JS'ymphcsa seed 

 was obtained from N. Lotus and some of its varieties, but no doubt all 

 the species of this genus would show the same composition. 



Composition of a sample of Nelumbium 



apeciosum seed : 



Flour 60-5 o/o Husk 39 5 o/o 





Air dried flour. 



Water 



12-17 



Fats 



2-44 



a. Albuminoids 



17 67 



Glucose 



7-79 



Sucrose 



5 50 



Dextrin 



8-17 



Starch 



6 47 



Digestible fibre 



34 34 



Indigestible fibre 



1-65 



Ash (Mineral matter) 



3-80 





100-00 



a. Containing Nitrogen 



2 83 



The flour of this is rich in albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, and fairly 

 so in fats and digestible cellulose, the composition proving generally 

 that of a very valuable foodstuff. 



Nymphcea seeds, air dried. 





Water 



10.05 





Oils & Fats 



1 29 



a. 



Albuminoids 



8.75 





Sucrose 







Glucose 



trace 





Starch 



24.15 





Gums, etc. 



4.09 





Digestible fibre 



46.12 





Indigestible fibre 



3.76 



b. 



Mineral matters (ash) 



1.76 







100.00 



a. 



Containing n'trogen ... 



1.40 



b. 



Soluble ash 



66 



* Continued from Bulletin of the Botmitttl Department, Jamaica, June, 1901. 



