FLORA VITIENSIS. : 101 
flowers very small, 7. artocarpifolia, Seem,, from the islands of Eastern Africa, is different from any other 
species known to me.* 
: ee general Polynesian name for the different Taccas is Pia (i.e. semen hominis), the Vitian form of 
Ww lich is /Yabia. Pereira (Mat, Medica) seemed to think that “ Chailea tacea,” which he quoted from Ellis 
( Polynesian Researches,’ vol. i. p. 361), was a native Tahitian name, whilst it is merely Solander’s scientific 
name inis-spelt. The arrowroot of Fiji is not, as erroneously stated by Wilkes and others, produced by 
Maranta arundinacea, Linn., but by two species of TZucca, the foliage of which springs up in great abundance 
in the beginning of the warm season, and their tubers ripen about June, when Jeaves and flowers die off. The 
most common is that kind termed on the Macuata coast Yabia dina (genuine arrowroot), the Zacca pinna- 
tifisda, Forst. It delights in light sandy soil, and is therefore most frequently encountered on the seashore ; 
whilst the second species (7. maculata, Seem.), known in Macuata as “ Yabia sa,” is almost entirely confined 
to the sides of hills and heavy soils. The natives prefer the first-mentioned species for the purpose of making 
arrowroot, though they own that there is no difference in the quality of the farinaceous substance prepared 
from either. In most parts of Fiji there are no distinctive names for the two kinds, both being called “ Yabia;” 
yet the natives are perfectly well acquainted with their various characters and peculiarities of habitat. The 
leaf, stalks, and scape of the Yabia sa are prominently speckled, and the segments of the leaves are long and 
narrow, by which it is at once distinguished trom its ally. The tubers, when quite ripe, are dug out of the 
ground and rasped on the mushroom coral (Fwagia sp.). The fleshy mass thus produced is washed in 
fresh water, to allow the starch to settle at the bottom of the vessel in which the operation is carried on ; 
by pouring off the dirty water, and repeated washings, the starchy sediment may be made to assume any 
desired degree of whiteness. Since Fijian arrowroot has become an article of foreign demand, it has been 
pointed out to the natives that the impurities imparting a greyish colour to the production, caused partly 
by not peeling the tubers previous to rasping them, partly by not washing the sediment a sufficient number 
of times, must be removed in order to raise the marketable value of the article. When a satisfactory degree 
of whiteness has been attained, the starch is dried in the sun. For their own consumption the Fijians do 
not dry their arrowroot, but tie it up in bundles of leaves and bury it in the ground, when it speedily fer- 
ments, and emits a rather disagreeable odour, South Sea arrowroot fetches from threepence-halfpenny to 
fourpence per pound in London; and as it is invaluable when taken in cases of dysentery and diarrhoea,— 
the bane of the South Seas,—it is necessary to have it genuine, The Tonguese have of late years been 
known to adulterate it to a great extent with lime in order to increase its weight and yolume, but this fraud 
may readily be detected by watehing the arrowroot when it first comes in contact with water; if adulterated 
with lime, it will fizz. Care should also be taken to guard against the starch of the Cassava or Tapioca 
plant being passed off for Polynesian arrowroot, which, from its slightly purgative tendency and poisonous 
properties, is ill-adapted for bowel complaints. It is much whiter than the arrowroot made of Tucea, sticks 
to the hands like flour, and when a little water is allowed to act upon it, it assumes a pinkish colour; whilst 
the arrowroot made of Zucea has a granulated feel, does not adhere to the hand like flour, and is not 
changed in colour by contact with water. From the leaf- and flower-stalks the Tahitians made a superior 
kind of plat, of which George Pritchard (Missionary Reward, p. 179) says:—‘‘It is beautifully white, 
smooth, and bright, not much unlike narrow satin ribbon, and so remarkably light as to make it peculiarly 
suitable for the summer season. As a proof of its excellent quality, a house in Scotland has engaged to 
take all that the Polynesians will manufacture.’ I have been told that Queen Victoria had a bonnet made 
of this plat. 
I. Tacca, Rumph. Amb. vol. v. p. 328. t. 114, 115, excl. sp. Porst Gen. n, 35 (Aihecke Presl, 
in Reliq. Henk. vol. i. p. 149). Perigonii corollini tubus oor pray connatus ; limbus superns, 
6-partitus, subsequalis, persistens. Stamina 6, basi laciniarum limbi SHEE planients petalciica, 
lata, apice cucullata vy. concaya ; anther introrse, 2-loculares, loculis Gishiess parallelis, eagniic 
itate intus adnatis, apicibus solutis deorsum spectantes. Ovarium cum perigonii tubo 
vy. concav ; 
2-lobis, axim fere attingentibus, sub- 
connatum, 1-loculare, placentis parietalibus simplicibus (?) v. , : , 
triloculare. Ovula 06, horizontalia. Stylus brevis, crassus, s-suleus, stigmatibus 3 dilatatis re 
ginato-2-lobis. Bacca I- v. spurie 3-locularis, co-sperma. Semina ovata Y. Nala! eee a 4 
acea, striata. Embryo minimus, in basi albuminis carnosl, umbilico proximus.—Herbie acaules, 
+s 1s “. minnaiad iniis tineari-oblongis 
PI (s . foliis 3-partitis, ramis pinnatifidis, lacinus lin 
* artocarpifolia (sp. nov.), Seem, ; rr: e ncuminatissimi ib teger- 
Tacea artoe pif e SP imvyolucro 6-7-phyllo, phyllis lanceolatis acuminatissim1s omnibus integ 
longe acuminatis ie en in and other islands of Eastern Africa (Lyall! Blackbourn! in Herb. 
eas sriore 3-fido,— Madagascar an ahaa F at fe ee ike 1e of the common 
Hook eg ase distinct species; the primary divisions of the leaves look exactly like some of tl 
ook). 
forms of the Breadfruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa, L.). 
