Chapter 3

The fruit, upon which so much stress is laid in the study of the family, is compound, of two similar parts or carpels, each of which contains a seed. In ripening the parts separate, and hang divergent from a hair-like prolongation of the receptacle known as the gynophore. Each half fruit (mericarp) is tipped by a persistent style, and marked by vertical ribs, between or under which lie, in many genera, the oil tubes or vittæ. These are channels containing aromatic and volatile oil. In examination the botanist makes delicate cross sections of these fruits under a dissecting microscope, and by the shape of the fruit and seed within, and by the number and position of the ribs and oil tubes, is able to locate the genus. It, of course, requires skill and experience to do this, but any commonly intelligent class can learn the process. It goes without saying, and as a corollary to what has already been stated, that these plants should always be collected in full fruit; the flowers are comparatively unimportant. Any botanist would be justified in declining to name one of the family not in fruit. An attempt would often be mere guesswork.

In this family is found the poison hemlock (Conium) used by the ancient Greeks for the elimination of politicians. It is a powerful poison. The whole plant has a curious mousy odor. It is of European origin. Our water hemlock is equally poisonous, and much more common. It is the _Cicuta maculata_ of the swamps--a tall, coarse plant which has given rise to many sad accidents. _Æthusa cynapium_, another poisonous plant, known as "fool's parsley," is not uncommon, and certainly looks much like parsley. This only goes to show how difficult it is for any but the trained botanist to detect differences in this group of plants. Side by side may be growing two specimens, to the ordinary eye precisely alike, yet the one will be innocent and the other poisonous.

The drug asafetida is a product of this order. All the plants appear to "form three different principles: the first, a watery acid matter; the second, a gum-resinous milky substance; and the third, an aromatic, oily secretion. When the first of these predominates they are poisonous; the second in excess converts them into stimulants; the absence of the two renders them useful as esculents; the third causes them to be pleasant condiments." So that besides the noxious plants there is a long range of useful vegetables, as parsnips, parsley, carrots, fennel, dill, anise, caraway, cummin, coriander, and celery. The last, in its wild state, is said to be pernicious, but etiolation changes the products and renders them harmless. The flowers of all are too minute to be individually pretty, but every one knows how charming are the umbels of our wild carrot, resembling as they do the choicest old lace. Frequently the carrot has one central maroon colored floret.

Though most of the plants are herbs, Dr. Welwitsch found in Africa a tree-like one, with a stem one to two feet thick, much prized by the natives for its medicinal properties, and also valuable for its timber. In Kamschatka also they assume a sub-arboreous type, as well as on the steppes of Afghanistan.

As mistakes often occur by confounding the roots of Umbelliferæ with those of horse radish or other esculents, it is well, when in doubt, to send the plants, _always in fruit_, if possible, for identification. None of them are poisonous to the touch--at least to ordinary people. Cases of rather doubtful authenticity are reported from time to time of injury from the handling of wild carrot. We have always suspected the proximity of poison ivy; still, it is unwise to dogmatize on such matters. Some people cannot eat strawberries--more's the pity!--while the rest of us get along with them very happily. Lately the _Primula obconica_ has acquired an evil reputation as an irritant, so there is no telling what may not happen with certain constitutions.

Difficult as is the study of Umbelliferæ, it becomes fascinating on acquaintance. To hunt up a plant and name it by so scientific a process brings to the student a sufficient reward.--_American Naturalist._

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THE EREMURI.

It has often been a matter of astonishment to me that eremuri are not more frequently seen in our gardens. There are certainly very few plants which have a statelier or more handsome appearance during the summer months. Both in point of brightness of color and their general habit and manner of growth they are very much to be recommended. For some reason or other they have the character of being difficult plants, but they do not deserve it at all, and a very slight attention to their requirements is enough to ensure success. They can stand a good many degrees of frost, and they ask for little more than a soil which has been deeply worked and well enriched with old rotten manure. Give them this, and they are certain to be contented with it, and the cultivator will be well rewarded for his pains. Only one thing should perhaps be added by way of precaution. If an eremurus appears too soon above ground, it is well just to cover it over with loose litter of some sort, so that it may not be nipped by spring frosts; and one experienced grower has said that it answers to lift them after blossoming, and to keep them out of the ground for a few weeks, so that they may be sufficiently retarded. But I have not yet been able to try this plan myself, and I do not speak from experience about it. My favorite is Eremurus Bungei, which I think is one of the handsomest plants I have in my garden. The clear yellow color of the blossom is so very good, and I like the foliage also; but of course it is not the most imposing by any means and if height and stateliness are especially regarded, E. robustus or E. robustus nobilis would carry off the palm. This commonly rises to the height of eight or nine feet above the ground, and on one occasion I have known it to be greatly in excess even of that; but such an elevation cannot be attained for more than a single year, and it afterward is contented with more moderate efforts. E. Himalaicus is of the purest possible white, and the spike is very much to be admired when it is seen at its best. It can be very easily raised from seed, but a good deal of patience is needed before its full glory has come. E. Olgæ is the last of all, and it shows by its arrival that summer is hastening on. It is of a peach-colored hue, and very pretty indeed. Altogether it is a pity that eremuri are not more commonly grown. I think they are certain to give great satisfaction, if only a moderate degree of attention and care be bestowed upon them.--_H. Ewbank, in The Gardeners' Magazine._

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RAPHIDES, THE CAUSE OF THE ACRIDITY OF CERTAIN PLANTS.

By R.A. WEBER, Ph.D.

At the last meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Prof. W.R. Lazenby reported his studies on the occurrence of crystals in plants. In this report he expressed the opinion that the acridity of the Indian turnip was due to the presence of these crystals or raphides. This opinion was opposed by Prof. Burrill and other eminent botanists, who claimed that other plants, as the fuchsia, are not at all acrid, although they contain raphides as plentifully as the Indian turnip. Here the matter was allowed to rest.

The United States Dispensatory and other works on pharmacy ascribe the acridity of the Indian turnip to an acrid, extremely volatile principle insoluble in water, and alcohol, but soluble in ether. Heating and drying the bulbs dissipates the volatiles principle, and the acridity is destroyed.

At a recent meeting of Ohio State Microscopical Society this subject was again brought up for discussion. It was thought by some that the raphides in the different plants might vary in chemical composition, and thus the difference in their action be accounted for. This question the writer volunteered to answer.

Accordingly, four plants containing raphides were selected, two of which, the _Calla cassia_ and Indian turnip, were highly acrid, and two, the _Fuchsia_ and _Tradescantia_, or Wandering Jew, were perfectly bland to the taste.

A portion of each plant was crushed in a mortar, water or dilute alcohol was added, the mixture was stirred thoroughly and thrown upon a fine sieve. By repeated washing with water and decanting a sufficient amount of the crystals was obtained for examination. From the calla the crystals were readily secured by this means in a comparatively pure state. In the case of the Indian turnip the crystals were contaminated with starch, while the crystals from the fuschia and tradescantia were embedded in an insoluble mucilage from which it was found impossible to separate them. The crystals were all found to be calcium oxalate.

Having determined the identity in chemical composition of the crystals, it was thought that there might be a difference of form of the crystals in the various plants, from the fact that calcium oxalate crystallizes both in the tetragonal and the monoclinic systems. A laborious microscopic examination, however, showed that this theory also had to be abandoned. The fuchsia and tradescantia contained bundles of raphides of the same form and equally as fine as those of the acrid plants. At this point in the investigation the writer was inclined to the opinion that the acridity of the Indian turnip and calla was due to the presence of an acrid principle.

Since the works on pharmacy claimed that the active principle of the Indian turnip was soluble in ether, the investigation was continued in this direction. A large stem of the calla was cut into slices, and the juice expressed by means of a tincture press. The expressed juice was limpid and filled with raphides. A portion of the juice was placed into a cylinder and violently shaken with an equal volume of ether. When the ether had separated a drop was placed upon the tongue. As soon as the effects of the ether had passed away, the same painful acridity was experienced as is produced when the plant itself is tasted. This experiment seemed to corroborate the assumption of an acrid principle soluble in ether. The supernatant ether, however, was slightly turbid in appearance, a fact which was at first ignored. Wishing to learn the cause of this turbidity, a drop of the ether was allowed to evaporate on a glass slide. Under the microscope the slide was found to be covered with a mass of raphides. A portion of the ether was run through a Munktell filter. The filtered ether was clear, entirely free from raphides, and had also lost every trace of its acridity.

The same operations were repeated upon the Indian turnip with exactly similar results.

These experiments show conclusively that the acridity of the Indian turnip and calla is due to the raphides of calcium oxalate only.

The question of the absence of acridity in the other two plants still remained to be settled. For this purpose some recent twigs and leaves of the fuchsia were subjected to pressure in a tincture press. The expressed juice was not limpid, but thick, mucilaginous and ropy. Under the microscope the raphides seemed as plentiful as in the case of the two acrid plants. When diluted with water and shaken with ether, there was no visible turbidity in the supernatant ether, and when a drop of the ether was allowed to evaporate on a glass slide, only a few isolated crystals could be seen. From this it will be seen that in this case the raphides did not separate from the mucilaginous juice to be held in suspension in the ether. A great deal of time and labor were spent in endeavoring to separate the crystals completely from this insoluble mucilage, but without avail. With the tradescantia similar results were obtained.

From these experiments the absence of acridity in these two plants, in spite of the abundance of raphides, may readily be explained by the fact that the minute crystals are surrounded with and embedded in an insoluble mucilage, which prevents their free movement into the tongue and surface of the mouth, when portions of the plants are tasted.

The reason why the Indian turnip loses its acridity on being heated can be explained by the production of starch paste from the abundance of starch present in the bulbs. This starch paste would evidently act in a manner similar to the insoluble mucilage of the other two plants.

So also it can readily be seen that when the bulbs of the Indian turnip have been dried, the crystals can no longer separate from the hard mass which surrounds them, and consequently can exert no irritant action when the dried bulbs are placed against the tongue.--_Jour. Am. Chem. Soc._

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THE WHALE-HEADED STORK.

Of all the wonders that inhabit the vast continent of Africa, the most singular one is undoubtedly the _Balæniceps_, or whale-headed stork. It is of relatively recent discovery, and the first description of it was given by Gould in the early part of 1851. It is at present still extremely rare. The Paris Museum possesses three specimens of it, and the Boulogne Museum possesses one. These birds always excite the curiosity of the public by their strange aspect. At first sight, says W.P. Parker, in his notes upon the osteology of the balæniceps, this bird recalls the boatbill, the heron, and the adjutant. Other birds, too, suggest themselves to the mind, such as the pelican, the toucan, the hornbills, and the podarges. The curious form of the bill, in fact, explains this comparison with birds belonging to so different groups, and the balæniceps would merit the name of boatbill equally well with the bird so called, since its bill recalls the small fishing boats that we observe keel upward high and dry on our seashores. This bill is ten inches in length, and four inches in breadth at the base. The upper mandible, which is strongly convex, exhibits upon its median line a slight ridge, which is quite wide at its origin, and then continues to decrease and becomes sensibly depressed as far as to the center of its length, and afterward rises on approaching the anterior extremity, where it terminates in a powerful hook, which seems to form a separate part, as in the albatrosses. Throughout its whole extent, up to the beginning of the hook, this mandible presents a strong convexity over its edge, which is turned slightly inward. The lower mandible, which is powerful, and is indented at its point to receive the hook, has a very sharp edge, which, with that of the upper mandible, constitutes a pair of formidable shears. The color of the bill is pale yellow, passing to horn color toward the median ridge, and the whole surface is sprinkled with dark brown blotches. The nostrils are scarcely visible, and are situated in a narrow cleft at the base of the bill, and against the median ridge. The tongue is very small and entirely out of proportion to the vast buccal capacity. This is a character that might assimilate the balæniceps to the pelican. The robust head, the neck, and the throat, are covered with slate-colored feathers verging on green, and not presenting the repulsive aspect of the naked skin of the adjutant. As in the latter, the skin of the throat is capable of being dilated so as to form a voluminous pouch. Upon the occiput the feathers are elongated and form a small crest. The body is robust and covered upon the back with slate-colored feathers bordered with ashen gray. Upon the breast the feathers are lanceolate, and marked with a dark median stripe. Finally, the lower parts, abdomen, sides, and thighs, are pale gray, and the remiges and retrices are black. According to Verreaux, the feathers of the under side of the tail are soft and decompounded, but at a distance they only recall the beautiful plumes of the adjutant. The well-developed wings indicate a bird of lofty flight, yet of all the bones of the limbs, anterior as well as posterior, the humerus alone is pneumatized. The strong feet terminate in four very long toes deprived at the interdigital membrane observed in most of the Ciconidæ. The claws are powerful and but slightly curved, and that of the median toe is not pectinated as in the herons.

The balæniceps is met with only in or near water, but it prefers marshes to rivers. It is abundant upon the banks of the Nile only during the hot season which precedes the rains and when the entire interior is dried up. During the rest of the year it inhabits natural ponds and swamps, where the shallow water covers vast areas and presents numerous small islands, of easier access than the banks of the Nile, which always slope more or less abruptly into deep water. In such localities it is met with in pairs or in flocks of a hundred or more, seeking its food with tireless energy, or else standing immovable upon one leg, the neck curved and the head resting upon the shoulder. When disturbed, the birds fly just above the surface of the water and stop at a short distance. But when they are startled by the firing of a gun, they ascend to a great height, fly around in a circle and hover for a short time, and then descend upon the loftiest trees, where they remain until the enemy has gone.

Water turtles, fish, frogs and lizards form the basis of their food. According to Petherick, they do not disdain dead animals, whose carcasses they disembowel with their powerful hooked beak. They pass the night upon the ground, upon trees and upon high rocks. As regards nest-making and egg-laying, opinions are most contradictory. According to Verreaux, the balæniceps builds its nest of earth, vegetable debris, reeds, grass, etc., upon large trees. The female lays two eggs similar to those of the adjutant. It is quite difficult to reconcile this opinion with that of Petherick, who expresses himself as follows: "The balæniceps lays in July and August, and chooses for that purpose the tall reeds or grasses that border the water or some small and slightly elevated island. They dig a hole in the ground, and the female deposits her eggs therein. I have found as many as twelve eggs in the same nest."

The whale-headed stork is still so little known that there is nothing in these contradictions that ought to surprise us. Authors are no more in accord on the subject of the affinities of this strange bird. Gould claims that it presents the closest affinities with the pelican and is the wading type of the Pelicanidæ. Verreaux believes that its nearest relative is the adjutant, whose ways it has, and that it represents in this group what the boatbill represents in the heron genus. Bonaparte regards it as intermediate between the pelican and the boatbill. If we listen to Reinhurdt, we must place it, not alongside of the boatbill, but alongside of the African genus Scopus. The boatbill, says he, is merely a heron provided with a singular bill, which has but little analogy with that of the balæniceps, and not a true resemblance. The nostrils differ in form and position in those two birds, and in the boatbill there exists beneath the lower mandible a dilatable pouch that we do not find in the balæniceps. An osteological examination leads Parker to place the balæniceps near the boatbill, and the present classification is based upon that opinion. The family of Ardeidæ is, therefore, divided into five sub-families, the three last of which each comprises a single genus.

Ardeidæ.--Ardeineæ (herons). Botaurineæ (bitterns). Scopineæ (ombrette). Cancomineæ (boatbill). Balænicepineæ (whale-headed stork).

All the whale-headed storks that have been received up to the present have come from the region of the White Nile; but Mr. H. Johnston, who traveled in Congo in 1882, asserts that he met with the bird on the River Cunene between Benguela and Angola, where it was even very common. Mr. Johnston's assertion has been confirmed by other travelers worthy of credence, but, unfortunately, the best of all confirmations is wanting, and that is a skin of this magnificent wader. We can, therefore, only make a note of Mr. Johnston's statement, and hope that some traveler may one day enrich our museums with some balæniceps from these regions. The presence of this bird in the southwest of Africa is, after all, not impossible; yet there is one question that arises: Was the balæniceps observed by Mr. Johnston of the same species as that of the White Nile, or was it a new type that will increase this family, which as yet comprises but one genus and one species--the _Balæniceps rex_?--_Le Naturaliste_.

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THE CALIFORNIA RAISIN INDUSTRY.

Fresno County, for ten miles about Fresno, furnishes the best example of the enormous increase in values which follows the conversion of wheat fields and grazing land into vineyards and orchards. Not even Riverside can compare with it in the rapid evolution of a great source of wealth which ten years ago was almost unknown. What has transformed Fresno from a shambling, dirty resort of cowboys and wheat ranchers into one of the prettiest cities in California is the raisin grape. Though nearly all fruits may be grown here, yet this is pre-eminently the home of the raisin industry, and it is the raisin which in a single decade has converted 50,000 acres of wheat fields into vineyards. No other crop in California promises such speedy returns or such large profits as the raisin grape, and as the work on the vineyards is not heavy, the result has been a remarkable growth of the infant industry. It is estimated that in this county, which contains 5,000,000 acres and is nearly as large as Massachusetts, there are 400,000 acres that may be irrigated and are specially adapted to the grape. As the present crop on about 25,000 acres in full bearing is valued at $6,000,000, some idea may be formed of the revenue that will come to the Fresno vineyardists when all this choice valley land is planted and in full bearing. And what makes the prospect of permanent prosperity surer is the fact that nine out of ten new settlers are content with twenty-acre tracts, as one of these is all which a man can well care for, while the income from this little vineyard will average $4,000 above all expenses, a larger income than is enjoyed by three-quarters of the professional men throughout the country.

The raisin industry in California is very young. To be sure, dried grapes have been known since the time of the Mission Fathers, but the dried mission grape is not a raisin. The men who thirty years ago sent over to Europe for the choicest varieties of wine grapes imported among other cuttings the Muscatel, the Muscat of Alexandria, and the Feher Zagos; the three finest raisin grapes of Spain. But the raisin, like the fig, requires skillful treatment, and for years the California grower made no headway. He read all that had been written on the curing of the raisin; several enterprising men went to Spain to study the subject at first hand; but despite all this no progress was made. Finally several of the pioneer raisin men of Fresno cut loose from all precedent, dried their grapes in the simple and natural manner and made a success of it. From that time, not over ten years ago, the growth of the industry has eclipsed that of every other branch of horticulture in the State, and the total value of the product promises soon to exceed the value of the orange crop or the yield of wine and brandy.