NOTES ON SOME NEW OR LITTLE-KNOWN VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 69 
biaceous fruits! Accompanying them were also a few bottles of ink of a good 
quality made from them. Some of the same fruits were sent over by Mr. 11. VV. 
Plant in 1855 under the name of Utumbu, who in a letter respecting them says, 
“ The outer covering contains tannin of great strength, and excellent ink is made 
from them. The kernels yield an oil, but of its quality or quantity I cannot 
speak.” The seeds are very much like those of the castor-oil plant. As to the 
plant producing these fruits, there is some difficulty in determining. Mr. Plant’s 
specimens (and with which mine are perfectly identical) were named by George 
Bentham, Esq., P.L.S., and the late Dr. Bindley, as probably those of Pycno- 
coma macrophylla (Bentham in Hooker’s ‘Niger Flora,’ p. 508). Mr. Hanbury, 
to whom I am indebted on this as on many other occasions, kindly forwarded 
specimens to Dr. Muller, the Curator of De Candolle’s Herbarium at Geneva, 
who on the receipt of them thus writes:— 
The fruits you have addressed to me belong to the genus Excacaria, probably 
E. reticulata (Muller, auct. Euphorb. DC. Prodr. p. 1213), of which I never saw 
the fruit. The two prominences on the back of each carpella (6 on each fruit), the 
3-partite calyx, the fleshy capsule scarcely gives place to any doubt on the deter¬ 
mination of the genus, in so far as it is possible to determine a genus in this diffi¬ 
cult family on the examination of the fruits only. 
I trust before long to obtain specimens of the tree, whereby their origin may 
be finally determined. As to the commercial value of these fruits, I nave not 
been able to ascertain. 
Palmete ( Prionium Palmita, E. Meyer).—This large palm-like reed, which is 
found in great profusion in the streams of Southern Africa, has more than once 
been sent to this country with a view to its utilization. Last year I noticed a 
large quantity of this substance in one of the London Docks. It has a thick 
trunk-like stem, sometimes 8 or 10 feet long, and 6 to 8 inches in diameter, ihe 
leaves, which in commercial specimens are generally absent or much mutilated, 
are serrated, very broad and channel, and leathery in texture. The flowers 
spring in the form of a much-branched panicle from the centre of them. It was 
first discovered by Thunberg (Prodr. 66), who named it Juncus serYatus, a name 
under which it often passes. Lichtenstein (Reise, ii. 256) mentions it under the 
name of Aoorus Palmita. The fullest account, however, we owe to Burchell* 
the enterprising African traveller, who speaks of it occurring in such abundance 
as to block up the rivers, rendering them dangerous to ford. Their appearance 
in the streams is very remarkable. 
The stems are of the thickness of a man’s arm, black, and of a very tough and 
spongy nature, generally simple, though not rarely divided into two or three 
branches. They rise up from the bottom, not often in an upright posture, but in¬ 
clined by the force of the current. They have much the growth of Dragon-trees 
( Dracaena), or of some Palms, from which latter resemblance they have obtained 
their name. 
The bases of the leaves after the decay of the parenchyma and epidermis yield 
a coarse and abundant reticulated fibre which would possibly be of use in paper¬ 
making. In the excellent museum at Kew there is an interesting collection 
showing its application, but it will probably share the fate of many other sub¬ 
stances till some manufacturer more bold or ingenious than his fellows turns it 
to good account. 
Telfairia pedata (Plooker).—A small parcel of the seeds of this plant 
(Joliffia Africana, DC.) appeared in the markets recently, having been brought 
from Abyssinia. They are flattened on either side, roundish, about an inch and 
* Burchell’s ‘ Travels in the Interior of Africa,’ quoted in Hooker’s Jouru. Bot. 1857, p. 173, 
and Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 5722, with figures. 
