66 
Calabrian  Manna. 
\  Am.  Jour.  Pharw. 
\     Feb.  1,1873. 
which  I  had  procured  it  at  Cosenza,  he  expressed  much  surprise,  and' 
declared  it  to  be  unlike  any  Sicilian  manna  he  had  seen. 
No  specimen  of  Calabrian  manna  was  contributed  to  the  Italian 
Exhibition  held  at  Florence  in  1861  ;  but  there  appear  to  have  been 
three  samples  from  Rogliano  in  the  London  Exhibition  of  the  follow- 
ing year.* 
From  what  I  have  already  stated,  the  conclusion  is  I  think  irre- 
sistible.— that  Calabrian  manna  as  an  article  of  commerce  has  prac- 
tically ceased  to  exist,  and  that  the  collection  of  manna  in  that  part 
of  Italy  is  on  the  verge  of  extinction. 
I  regret  that  when  at  Rossano  I  was  unable  to  visit  the  woods  of 
Ornus  which  undoubtedly  exist  in  that  vicinity.  But  the  habits  of 
the  Calabrian  peasantry  are  such  that  it  is  impossible  for  travellers 
to  quit  the  high-roads  without  personal  danger. 
The  better  to  inform  myself  of  manna  industry,  and  especially  that 
I  might  become  well  acquainted  with  the  tree,  I  afterwards  paid  a 
visit  to  the  manna  plantations  at  Capaci  near  Palermo.  I  also  in- 
spected the  trees  which  are  cultivated  at  the  Instituto  Agrario  Cas~ 
telmwvo  near  that  city,*)"  and  in  the  park  of  La  Favorita.  But  as  the 
time  of  my  visit  (May  16 — 22)  was  not  that  for  collecting  the  drug, 
I  have  no  details  of  particular  novelty  to  communicate. 
Respecting  the  manna-ash  itself,  however,  I  wish  to  say  a  few 
words.  It  has  often  been  stated,  as  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
(for  which  in  this  case  I  presume  the  Prodromes  of  De  Candolle  is 
the  authority),  that  there  are  two  species  of  manna-ash,  namely, 
Fraxinus  Ornus  and  F.  rotundifolia.  Many  modern  writers  on 
pharmacology  admit  but  a  single  species,  F.  Ornus,  L.,  of  which  F< 
rotundifolia  is  stated  to  be  a  cultivated  variety  peculiar  to  Calabria 
and  Sicily,  and  propagated  by  grafting. 
I  do  not  think  either  statement  satisfactory.  F.  Ornus  is  very 
variable  even  in  its  wild  state,  and  in  the  same  locality. J  As  to  the 
tree  which  is  cultivated  in  Sicily,  and  of  which  I  have  examined  spe- 
*  They  were  contributed  by  Signor  Giovanni  Morelli  of  Rogliano,  Calabria. 
f  A  most  interesting  agricultural  college,  founded  by  private  munificence, 
where  twenty-two  lads  are  studying  scientific  and  practical  husbandry  under 
the  able  directorship  of  Professor  Inzenga. 
X  As  for  instance  at  Eza  near  Nice  where  the  tree  is  plentiful,  and  where  I 
have  gathered  specimens  with  the  leaflets  almost  orbicular,  and  others  with 
leaflets  narrowly  lanceolate. 
