62 



BOTANICAL NOTICES OF NEW PLANTS. 



URTICE^E. 



Galactodendkon utile. Humb. et Kunth. Cow Tree of the Caraccas. 

 Bot. Mag. t. 3724. This extraordinary tree, although not remarkable for its 

 flowers, which are supposed to be small and insignificant, is highly valuable to the 

 Indians in its native country ; to whom it affords an abundance of nourishing 

 fluid, much resembling the milk of the cow. 



Humboldt says : "Its leaves are oblong, pointed, coriaceous, and alternate, 

 about ten inches long, and marked with lateral nerves, that are parallel, and project 

 beneath. The flower we had no opportunity of seeing ; the fruit is somewhat 

 fleshy, and contains two kernels. Incisions made in the trunk of the tree, are 

 followed by a profuse flow of gluey, and thickish milk, destitute of acridity, and 

 exhaling a very agreeable balsamic odour. It was offered to us in calabashes, and 

 though we drank large quantities of it both at night and in the morning, we 

 experienced no uncomfortable effects. The viscidity of this fluid alone renders it 

 rather unpleasant to those who are not accustomed to it. The negroes and free 

 people soak their bread in it, and are stated to become visibly fatter at that 

 season of the year that the tree yields the most milk.'" 



When exposed to the air, this fluid becomes covered on the surface, probably 

 from the absorption of oxygen, with membranes which are yellowish and thready, 

 like those of cheese, but when separated from the fluid beneath, are nearly as 

 elastic as caoutchouc, and exhibit the same tendency to putrefaction as gelatine. 

 Tlie people give the name of cheese to the curd which thus separates when 

 brought into contact with the air, and say that a space of five or six days suffices 

 to turn it sour, which appears to be correct. 



Sir W. J. Hooker received a quantity of the milk from Sir Ralph Wood- 

 forde ; some of which was presented to Dr. Thomson, Professor of Chemistry at 

 the Glasgow University. He has discovered in it a new substance he calls 

 galactine, which he has arranged among the solid oils. 



" The milk," he says, " is white, opaque, and of the consistence of cream. It 

 has a sour smell, owing to a small portion of free acetic acid, and reddens vege- 

 table blues. Its specific gravity is 1.01242. 



" It contains a peculiar substance which Bousingault and Mariano de Rivero 

 considered as fibrous : but its characters appear to be similar to those of cork. 

 When evaporated to dryness by a gentle heat, and the dry residue digested in 

 alcohol, a substance is dissolved which constitutes by far the most abundant 

 ingredient of the milk. When the alcoholic solution cools, it becomes white and 

 opaque, and deposits an abundance of white flakes. These are galactine, which 

 may be collected and dried on a filter." 



This valuable tree is a native of the Cordillera of the shore, especially from 

 Barbula to the lake of Maracaybo. According to Sir R. K. Porter's account, it 

 grows at an elevation above the level of the sea, of about 4000 feet, and the 



