Part 5

205. FICUS ELASTICA.--This plant is known as the india-rubber tree. It is a native of the East Indies, and is the chief source of caoutchouc from that quarter of the globe, although other species of Ficus yield this gum, as well as several plants of other genera. It is a plant of rapid growth, and from the larger branches roots descend to the earth as in the case of the banyan tree.

206. FICUS INDICA.--The famous banyan tree of history. Specimens of this Indian fig are mentioned as being of immense size. One in Bengal spreads over a diameter of 370 feet. Another covered an area of 1,700 square yards. It is one of the sacred trees of the Hindoos. It was known to the ancients. Strabo describes it, and it is mentioned by Pliny. Milton also alludes to it as follows:

Branching so broad along, that in the ground The bending twigs take root; and daughters grow About the mother tree; a pillared shade, High overarched, with echoing walks between. There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.

207. FICUS RELIGIOSA.--The pippul tree of the Hindoos, which they hold in such veneration that, if a person cuts or lops off any of the branches, he is looked upon with as great abhorrence as if he had broken the leg of one of their equally sacred cows. The seeds are employed by Indian doctors in medicine.

208. FLACOURTIA SEPIARIA.--A bushy shrub, used in India for hedges. Its fruit has a pleasant, subacid flavor when perfectly ripe, but the unripe fruit is extremely astringent. The Indian doctors use a liniment made of the bark in cases of gout, and an infusion of it as a cure for snake bites.

209. FOURCROYA CUBENSE.--This plant is closely related to the agave, and, like many of that genus, furnishes a fine fiber, which is known in St. Domingo as Cabuya fiber. These plants are very magnificent when in flower, throwing up stems 20 to 30 feet in height, covered with many hundreds of yucca-like blossoms.

210. FRANCISCEA UNIFLORA.--A Brazilian plant called Mercurio vegetal; also known as Manaca. The roots, and to some extent the leaves, are used in medicine; the inner bark and all the herbaceous parts are nauseously bitter; it is regarded as a purgative, emetic, and alexipharmic; in overdoses it is an acrid poison.

211. FUSANUS ACUMINATUS.--A small tree of the Cape of Good Hope and Australia. It bears a globular fruit of the size of a small peach, and is known in Australia as the native peach. It has an edible nut, called the Quandang nut, which is said to be as sweet and palatable as the almond.

212. GALIPEA OFFICINALIS.--This South American tree furnishes Angostura bark, which has important medical properties, some physicians in South America preferring it to cinchona in the treatment of fevers. Its use has been greatly retarded by bark of the deadly nux-vomica tree having been inadvertently sold for it. As this bark is sometimes used in bitters, a mistake, as above, might prove as fatal as cholera.

213. GARCINIA MANGOSTANA.--This tree produces the tropical fruit called mangosteen, a beautiful fruit, having a thick, succulent rind, which contains an astringent juice, and exudes a gum similar to gamboge. The esculent interior contains a juicy pulp, of the whiteness and solubility of snow, and of a refreshing, delicate, delicious flavor. The bark of the tree is used as a basis for black dye, and it has also some medicinal value.

214. GARCINIA MORELLA.--It is supposed that Siam gamboge is obtained from this tree, also that known as Ceylon gamboge. The juice is collected by incising the stems, or by breaking young twigs of the tree and securing the yellow gum resinous exudations in hollow bamboos, where it is allowed to harden. It is employed by artists in water colors and as a varnish for lacquer work.

215. GARCINIA PICTORIA.--A fatty matter known as gamboge butter is procured from the seeds of this tree in Mysore. They are pounded in a stone mortar, then boiled till the butter or oil rises to the surface. It is used as a lamp oil, and sometimes in food.

216. GARDENIA FLORIDA and GARDENIA RADICANS.--Cape Jasmines, so called from a supposition that they were natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The genus belongs to the cinchona family. _G. lucida_ furnishes a fragrant resin somewhat similar to myrrh. The fruit of _G. campanulata_ is used as a cathartic, and also to wash out stains in silks. _G. gummifera_ yields a resin something like Elemi.

217. GASTROLOBIUM BILOBUM.--A leguminous plant, having poisonous properties. In western Australia, where it is a native, farmers often lose their cattle through their eating the foliage. Cats and dogs that eat the flesh of these poisoned cattle are also poisoned. _G. obtusum_ and _G. spinosum_ possess similar properties.

218. GENIPA AMERICANA.--This belongs to the cinchona family, and produces the fruit called genipap or marmalade box. It is about the size of an orange, and has an agreeable flavor. The juice of the fruit yields a bluish-black dye, called Canito or Lana-dye. This color is very permanent, and is much used by Indians in South America.

219. GEONOMA SCHOTTIANA.--A pretty Brazilian palm; the leaves are used for thatching huts, and other parts of the plant are utilized.

220. GOUANIA DOMINGENSIS.--A plant of the buckthorn family, known in Jamaica as Chaw-Stick, on account of its thin branches being chewed as an agreeable stomachic. Tooth brushes are made by cutting pieces of the stem to convenient lengths and fraying out the ends. A tooth powder is prepared by pulverizing the dried stems. It is said to possess febrifugal properties, and owing to its pleasant bitter taste it is used for flavoring cooling beverages.

221. GREVILLEA ROBUSTA.--The silk oak tree of Australia; a tree that attains a large size, and is remarkable for the graceful beauty of its foliage.

222. GREWIA ASIATICA.--This Indian tree represents a genus of plants of considerable economic value. This particular species yields a profusion of small red fruits which are used for flavoring drinks, having a pleasant acid flavor. The fibrous inner bark is employed by the natives for making fishing nets, ropes, twine, and for other similar purposes.

223. GRIAS CAULIFLORA.--The anchovy pear of Jamaica. The fruit is pickled and eaten like the mango, having a similar taste.

224. GUAIACUM OFFICINALE.--The wood of this tree is called Lignum Vitae. A resin, called gum guaiacum, exudes from the stem, and is otherwise obtained from the wood by artificial means. It is of a greenish-brown color, with a balsamic fragrance, and is remarkable for the changes of color it undergoes when brought into contact with various substances. Gluten gives it a blue tint: nitric acid and chlorin change it successively to green, blue, and brown. The resin is used medicinally as also are the bark and wood.

225. GUAZUMA TOMENTOSA.--This plant is nearly allied to the chocolate-nut tree, and yields fruits that abound in mucilage, as also does the bark of the young shoots. The mucilage is given out in water, and has been used as a substitute for gelatin or albumen in clarifying cane juice in the manufacture of sugar. The timber is light, and is employed for the staves of sugar hogsheads; it is known in Jamaica as bastard cedar. A strong fiber is obtained from the young shoots.

226. GUILIELMA SPECIOSA.--The peach palm of Venezuela. The fruits are borne in large drooping bunches, and their fleshy outer portion contains starchy matter, which forms a portion of the food of the natives. They are cooked and eaten with salt, and are said to resemble a potato in flavor. A beverage is prepared by fermenting them in water, and the meal obtained from them is made into bread. The wood of the old trees is black, and so hard as to turn the edge of an ax.

227. HAEMATOXYLON CAMPECHIANUM.--The logwood tree. This dyestuff is largely used by calico printers and other dyeing manufacturers. It is also used as an ingredient in some writing inks. The heart wood is the part used for dyeing. This is cut into chips which yield their color to water and alcohol. The colors are various according to treatment, giving violet, yellow, purple, and blue, but the consumption of logwood is for black colors, which are obtained by alum and iron bases.

228. HARDENBERGIA MONOPHYLLA.--An Australian climbing plant of the leguminous family. The long, carrot-shaped, woody root was called, by the early settlers in that country, sarsaparilla, and is still used in infusion as a substitute for that root.

229. HARTIGHSEA SPECTABILIS.--A New Zealand tree, called Wahahe by the natives, who employ the leaves as a substitute for hops, and also prepare from them a spirituous infusion as a stomachic medicine.

230. HELICONIA BIHAI.--A plant of the order _Musaceae_, from South America. The young shoots are eaten by the natives, and the fruits are also collected and used as food. It also furnishes a useful fiber.

231. HEVEA BRASILIENSIS.--A tree of tropical America growing in damp forests, especially in the Amazon valley, which, together with other trees called siphonia furnish the Para rubber, or American caoutchouc. The sap is collected from incisions made in the tree during the dry season, and is poured over clay molds and dried by gentle heat, successive pourings being made till a sufficiently thick layer is produced.

232. HIBISCUS ROSA SINENSIS.--The flowers of this malvaceous plant contain a quantity of astringent juice, and, when bruised, rapidly turn black or deep purple; they are used by the Chinese ladies for dyeing their hair and eyebrows, and in Java for blacking shoes.

233. HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA.--This species is known in the West Indies as red sorrel, on account of the calyxes and capsules having an acid taste. They are made into cooling drinks, by sweetening and fermentation. The bark contains a strong useful fiber which makes good ropes if not too much twisted. It is also known as the Roselle plant.

234. HIBISCUS TILIACEUS.--A plant common to many tropical countries. Its wood is extremely light when dry, and is employed by the Polynesians for getting fire by friction, which is said to be a very tedious and tiresome operation, and difficult to accomplish. Good fiber is also obtained from the bark.

235. HIPPOMANE MANCINELLA.--This is the poisonous manchineel tree of South America and other tropical regions. The virulent nature of the juice of this tree has given it a reputation equal to that forced upon the upas tree of Java. The juice is certainly very acrid, and even its smoke, when burning, causes temporary blindness. The fruit is equally dangerous, and from its beautiful appearance is sometimes partaken of by those who are unaware of its deleterious properties, but its burning effects on the lips soon causes them to desist. Indians are said to poison their arrows with the juice of this tree.

236. HURA CREPITANS.--This tropical plant is known as the sand-box tree. Its deep-furrowed, rounded, hard-shelled fruit is about the size of an orange, and when ripe and dry, it bursts open with a sharp noise like the report of a pistol; hence, it is also called the monkey's dinner bell. An emetic oil is extracted from the seeds, and a venomous, milky juice is abundant in all parts of the plant.

237. HYMENAEA COURBARIL.--The locust tree of the West Indies; also called algarroba in tropical regions. This is one of the very largest growing trees known, and living trees in Brazil are supposed to have been growing at the commencement of the Christian era. The timber is very hard, and is much used for building purposes. A valuable resin, resembling the anime of Africa, exudes from the trunk, and large lumps of it are found about the roots of old trees.

238. HYPHAENE THEBAICA.--The doum, or doom palm, or gingerbread of Egypt; it grows also in Nubia, Abyssinia, and Arabia. The fibrous, mealy husks of the seeds are eaten, and taste almost like gingerbread. In the Thebias this palm forms extensive forests, the roots spreading over the lurid ruins of one of the largest and most splendid cities of the ancient world.

239. ICICA HEPTAPHYLLA.--The incense tree of Guiana, a tall-growing tree, furnishing wood of great durability. It is called cedar wood on account of its fragrant odor. The balsam from the trunk is highly odoriferous, and used in perfumery, and is known as balsam of acouchi; it is used in medicine. The balsam and branches are burned as incense in churches.

240. ILEX PARAGUAYENSIS.--This is the tea plant of South America, where it occupies the same important position in the domestic economy of the country as the Chinese tea does in this. The _mate_ is prepared by drying and roasting the leaves, which are then reduced to a powder and made into packages. When used, a small portion of the powder is placed in a vessel, sugar is added, and boiling water poured over the whole. It has an agreeable, slightly aromatic odor, rather bitter to the taste, but very refreshing and invigorating to the human frame after severe fatigue. It acts in some degree as an aperient and diuretic, and in overdoses produces intoxication. It contains the same active principle, theine as tea and coffee, but not their volatile and empyreumatic oils.

241. ILLICIUM ANISATUM.--This magnoliaceous plant is a native of China, and its fruit furnishes the star anise of commerce. In China, Japan, and India it is used as a condiment in the preparation of food, and is chewed to promote digestion, and the native physicians prescribe it as a carminative. It is the flavoring ingredient of the preparation _Anisette de Bordeaux_. Its flavor and odor are due to a volatile oil, which is extracted by distillation, and sold as oil of anise, which is really a different article.

242. ILLICIUM FLORIDANUM.--A native of the Southern States. The leaves are said to be poisonous; hence, the plant is sometimes called poison bag. The bark has been used as a substitute for cascarilla.

243. ILLICIUM RELIGIOSUM.--A Japanese species, which reaches the size of a small tree, and is held sacred by the Japanese, who form wreaths of it with which to decorate the tombs of their deceased friends, and they also burn the fragrant bark as incense. Their watchmen use the powdered bark for burning in graduated tubes, in order to mark the time, as it consumes slowly and uniformly. The leaves are said to possess poisonous properties.

244. INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA.--The indigo plant, a native of Asia, but cultivated and naturalized in many countries. The use of indigo as a dye is of great antiquity. Both Dioscorides and Pliny mention it, and it is supposed to have been employed by the ancient Egyptians. The indigo of commerce is prepared by throwing the fresh cut plants into water, where they are steeped for twelve hours, when the water is run off into a vessel and agitated in order to promote the formation of the blue coloring matter, which does not exist ready formed in the tissues of the plant, but is the result of the oxidation of other substances contained in them. The coloring matter then settles at the bottom; it is then boiled to a certain consistency and afterwards spread out on cloth frames, where it is further drained of water and pressed into cubes or cakes for market.

245. IPOM[OE]A PURGA.--A species of jalap is obtained from this convolvulaceous plant; this is a resinous matter contained in the juices.

246. IRIARTELLA SETIGERA.--A South American palm growing in the underwood of the forests on the Amazon and Rio Negro. The Indians use its slender stems for making their blow pipes or gravatanas, through which they blow small poisoned arrows with accuracy to a considerable distance.

247. JAMBOSA MALACCENSIS.--This Indian plant belongs to the myrtle family. It produces a good-sized edible fruit known as the Malay apple.

248. JASMINUM SAMBAC TRIFOLIATUM.--A native of South America. The flowers are very fragrant, and an essential oil, much used in perfumery under the name of jasmine oil, is obtained from this and other species.

249. JATROPHA CLAUCA.--An East Indian plant the seeds of which when crushed furnish an oil which is used in medicine.

250. JATROPHA CURCAS.--The physic nut tree of tropical America. This plant contains a milky, acrid, glutinous juice, which forms a permanent stain when dropped on linen, and which might form a good marking ink. Burning oil is expressed from the seeds in the Philippine Islands; the oil, boiled with oxide of iron, is used in China as a varnish. It is used in medicine in various ways, the leaves for fomentations, the juice in treating ulcers, and the seeds as purgatives.

251. JUBAEA SPECTABILIS.--The coquito palm of Chili. The seed or nut is called cokernut, and has a pleasant, nutty taste. These are used by the Chilian confectioners in the preparation of sweetmeats, and by the boys as marbles, being in shape and size like them. The leaves are used for thatching, and the trunks or stems are hollowed out and converted into water pipes. A sirup called Miel de Palma or palm honey, is prepared by boiling the sap of this tree to the consistency of treacle, and is much esteemed for domestic use as sugar. The sap is obtained by cutting off the crown of leaves when it immediately begins to flow and continues for several months provided a thin slice is shaved off the top every morning. Full-grown trees will thus yield 90 gallons.

252. KAEMPFERIA GALANGA.--This plant belongs to the family of gingers. The root stocks have an aromatic fragrance and are used medicinally in India as well as in the preparation of perfumery. The flowers appear before the leaves upon very short stems.

253. KIGELIA PINNATA.--This plant is interesting from the circumstance of its being held sacred in Nubia, where the inhabitants celebrate their religious festivals under it by moonlight, and poles made of its wood are erected as symbols of special veneration before the houses of their great chiefs. The fruits, which are very large, when cut in half and slightly roasted, are employed as an outward application to relieve pains.

254. KRAMERIA TRIANDRA.--This is one of the species that yield the rhatany roots of commerce. In Peru an extract is made from this species, which is a mild, easily assimilated, astringent medicine. It acts as a tonic, and is used in intermittent and putrid fevers. It is also styptic, and when applied in plasters is used in curing ulcers. The color of the infusion of the roots is blood-red, on which account it is used to adulterate, or rather it forms an ingredient in the fabrication of port wine.

255. KYDIA CALYCINA.--An Indian plant of the family _Byttneriaceae_. The bark is employed in infusion as a sudorific and in cutaneous diseases, and its fibrous tissue is manufactured into cordage.

256. LAGETTA LINTEARIA.--The lace-bark tree of Jamaica. The inner bark consists of numerous concentric layers of fibers, which interlace in all directions, and thus present a great resemblance to lace. Articles of apparel are made of it. Caps, ruffles, and even complete suits of lace are made with it. It bears washing with common soap, and when bleached in the sun acquires a degree of whiteness equal to the best artificial lace. Ropes made of it are very durable and strong.

257. LANSIUM DOMESTICUM.--A low-growing tree of the East Indies, which is cultivated to some extent for its fruit, which is known in Java and Malacca as lanseh fruit, and is much esteemed for its delicate aroma; the pulp is of somewhat firm consistence and contains a cooling, refreshing juice.

258. LAPAGERIA ROSEA.--A twining plant from Chili. The flowers are very beautiful, and are succeeded by berries, which are said to be sweet and eatable. The root has qualities closely resembling sarsaparilla and used for the same purpose.

259. LATANIA RUBRA.--A very beautiful palm from the Mauritius. The fruit contains a small quantity of pulp, which is eaten by the natives, but is not considered very palatable by travelers.

260. LAWSONIA INERMIS.--This is the celebrated henna of the East. The use of the powdered leaves as a cosmetic is very general in Asia and northern Africa, the practice having descended from very remote ages, as is proved by the Egyptian mummies, the parts dyed being usually the finger and toe nails, the tips of the fingers, the palms of the hands, and soles of the feet, receiving a reddish color, considered by Oriental belles as highly ornamental. Henna is prepared by reducing the leaves to powder, and when used is made into a pasty mass with water and spread on the part to be dyed, being allowed to remain for twelve hours. The plant is known in the West Indies as Jamaica Mignonette.

261. LECYTHIS OLLARIA.--This tree produces the hard urn-shaped fruits known in Brazil as monkey cups. The seeds are eatable and sold as Sapucaia nuts. The fruit vessels are very peculiar, being 6 inches in diameter and having closely fitting lids, which separate when the seeds are mature. The bark is composed of a great number of layers, not thicker than writing paper, which the Indians separate and employ as cigar wrappers.

262. LEPTOSPERMUM LANIGERUM.--A plant known throughout Australia as Captain Cook's tea tree, from the circumstance that, on the first landing of this navigator in that country, he employed a decoction of the leaves of this plant as a corrective to the effects of scurvy among his crew, and this proved an efficient medicine. Thickets of this plant, along the swampy margin of streams, are known as Tea-tree scrubs. It is also known among the natives as the Manuka plant. The wood is hard and heavy, and was formerly used for making sharp-pointed spears. It belongs to the myrtle family of plants.

263. LICUALA ACUTIFIDA.--This palm is a native of the island of Pulo-Penango, and yields canes known by the curious name of Penang Lawyers. It is a low-growing plant, its stems averaging an inch in diameter. The stems are converted into walking canes by scraping their rough exteriors and straightening them by means of fire heat.