Am.  Jour  Phariu.") 
August,  1884.  j 
War  as. 
423 
I  trust  that  some  further  information  regarding  the  plants  yielding 
the  second  and  third  varieties  of  "  wurrus  "  will  soon  be  forthcoming. 
Looking  at  the  last  sort  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  it  would 
appear  to  be  worthless  as  a  dye,  whatever  it  may  be  as  a  medicine. 
In  conclusion,  I  beg  to  tender  my  thanks  to  Mr.  Holmes,  and  to 
Mr.  Elborne  who  has  assisted  me  in  obtaining  specimens  of  the  drug. 
—Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  May  10,  1884,  p.  897. 
WARAS. 
By  W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer,  C.  M.  G.,  F.  R.  S. 
Perhaps  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  a  few  remarks  to  what  is  stated 
about  "  waras "  in  Mr.  Kirkby's  interesting  paper  in  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Journal.  The  note  contained  in  the  inclosed  copy  of  the 
"Kew  Report"  for  1880,  p.  50,  is,  I  believe,  the  origin  of  the  identi- 
fication of  the  plant  producing  the  Aden  drug  with  Flemingia  congesta} 
1  The  following  is  the  note  referred  to  : 
"  Waras. — A  drug  known  under  this  name  appears  to  be  exported  in  con- 
siderable quantity  from  Aden.  It  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  kamala,  a 
well-known  Indian  product  of  Mallotus  phUippinensis  {Rottlera  tinctoria 
Roxb.).  Its  origin  is  quite  unknown  (see  Fluckiger  and  Hanbury,  'Phar- 
macographia,'  pp.  575,  576).  At  the  suggestion  of  the  former,  Captain 
Hunter,  Assistant  Resident  at  Aden,  obtained  specimens  of  the  plant  stated 
to  yield  waras  in  Arabia.  He  has  also  sent  one  to  Kew  with  a  note  stating 
that  it  was  gathered  'at  an  elevation  of  6,000  feet  on  Jebel  Dthubarah,  60 
miles  due  north  of  Aden.'  The  plant  sent  was  immediately  identified  with 
a  leguminous  species,  Flemingia  congesta,  Roxb.,  having  of  course  no 
affinity  with  Mallotus  phUippinensis. 
"True  kamala  consists  of  the  epidermal  glands,  detached  by  brushing 
from  the  fruits  of  the  Mallotus.  Alcohol  extracts  from  it  a  splendid  red 
color.  The  name  '  waras '  means  saffron,  and  it  may  be  mentioned  in  sup- 
port of  the  notion  that  a  similar  substance  is  yielded  in  Arabia  by  perhaps 
one  or  more  species  of  Flemingia,  that  dried  specimens  belonging  to  this 
genus  stain  paper  in  the  herbarium  a  bright  yellow  color  when  washed  over 
with  the  alcoholic  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  used  to  protect  them  from 
the  attacks  of  insects.  Flemingia  rhodocarpa,  Bak.,  from  the  Mozambique 
district  has  its  pods  covered  with  a  bright  red  resinous  pubescence. 
"  In  the  '  Pharmacographia '  (2d  ed.,  p.  372)  Fluckiger  and  Hanbury  state 
that  Mallotus  phUippinensis  grows  in  Abyssinia  and  Southern  Arabia.  In 
a  letter,  Professor  Fluckiger  doubts  whether  he  and  Mr.  Hanbury  were  not 
mistaken  in  regard  to  this.  The  evidence  of  specimens  in  the  Kew  herba- 
rium only  carries  the  distribution  to  the  west  as  far  as  Scinde.  There  is 
nothing  improbable  in  its  extending  to  Arabia,  the  flora  of  which  is  still  so 
imperfectly  known." 
