286 
CALYCI FLORAE. 
legumes straight pendulous compressed torulose rufo- 
villous. 
Lam. Encycl. II. 293. — Plum. Sp. t. 220. 
HAB. Cultivated. 
FL. Throughout the year. 
Flowers white. Seeds red. The root is formed of a num- 
ber of simple cord-like fibres, several feet in length, stretching 
under the surface of the ground, bearing in their course a suc- 
cession of tubers. 
The beans are poisonous ; but the root affords a very plenti- 
ful supply of very wholesome food. The produce of three 
plants is usually sufficient to fill a bushel basket. The tubers 
may either be boiled plain, in wlpch state they are a very good 
substitute for yams and other roots in common use ; or they may 
be submitted to a process similar to arrow-root, and a starch 
obtained. This starch is of a pure white, and is equal in every 
respect to arrow-root. To the taste it is very palatable, is 
easily digested, and is employed for custards and puddings. 
Even the trash left after obtaining the starch, and which in the 
preparation of arrow root is lost, may, when thoroughly dried, 
be formed into a palatable and wholesome flour. 
A very excellent flour may also be obtained by slicing the 
tubers, drying them in the sun, and then reducing to a powder. 
This plant is deserving of being more generally cultivated 
than it has hitherto been. It ought in a great measure to su- 
persede the arrow-root in cultivation. It can be planted at 
any season of the year, and the roots are fit for digging in the 
course of four or five months : the return is infinitely greater 
than that from arrow-root, and the proportion of starch also is 
more abundant, so that it can be brought to market at so cheap 
a rate, as to admit of being employed by the calico-printers in 
place of potato-starch. 
The Yam-bean has of late years been partially cultivated in 
this Island. It is said to have been introduced from Marti- 
nique. It is probably a native of Java, as Perrotet (Ann. Marit. 
1812, page 89,) informs us that the roots form, in that Island, 
as well as in other districts of India, an article of food. 
2. Dolichos filiformis. Filiform Dolichos. 
Leaflets elliptico-ovate of a length twice that of the 
breadth, legumes falcate. 
Dolichos herbaceus minor, Brorvne, 294. — Dolichos filiformis, 
Linn. Ann. V. 402 ? 
HAB. Lower hills on fences. St Andrew’s and Port-Royal. 
Near Old-Harbour. 
FL. October — November. 
Herbaceous, filiform, twining, pubescent. Leaflets ovate, ob- 
