Alexander the Great, and diffused westward and northward by the Greeks and Romans. In England it does not succeed as a standard, except in the warmer parts of the southern counties.

Arrow Root, Maranta arundinacea, a native of tropical America, cultivated in the West Indies, also in Africa, India, and Polynesia, the root-stalks of which supply a delicate and nutritious food for invalids and children. It was supposed to be an antidote to the poisoned arrows of the Indians. Hence the common name. The plant grows about two feet high, bears clusters of small white flowers, and fruit about the size and shape of currants.

Balm of Gilead, Balsamodendron Gileadense, a small tree growing in parts of Arabia and Eastern Africa, from which a resinous liquid is obtained, long held in high esteem by the oriental nations for its fragrance and supposed medicinal virtues.

Balsam of Peru, Myrospernum peruiferum, a beautiful tree common from Peru to Mexico, called the Quinquino by the native Indians. It yields a fragrant oily substance, used in confectionery and perfumery, also in medicine as a gentle tonic. Tolu lozenges, a popular remedy for coughs, are made of the product of a closely allied species, growing on the mountains of Tolu, in New Granada.

Banana, Musa sapientum, or Plantain, Musa Paradisaica, a gigantic herbaceous plant, often popularly called a tree, probably a native of India, but has been extended to all tropical countries in both hemispheres. Its nutritious fruit is to an immense number of the human race what wheat is to the European, and rice to the Hindoo. The yield is enormous, and obtained with little culture. It is estimated that the same extent of ground which, under wheat, would maintain only two persons, will yield sustenance to fifty under banana. Within the tropics it grows up to a height of from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea, and ranges on the lowlands to about 30° on each side of the equator. The descriptive term applied to the banana, sapientum, 'of the wise men,' originated with a statement of Theophrastus concerning a fruit which the wise men of India used for food. The other term associated with the plantain, Paradisaica, refers to a fancy that it was the tree, the fruit of which was forbidden to the first parents of mankind. The banana and plantain were formerly supposed to be distinct species, but are now considered identical, differing chiefly in the size of the produce.

Barley, Hordeum, a tribe of corn-bearing grasses, not perhaps specifically distinct, but varieties produced by cultivation. The native country of the plant is unknown, but it may probably be referred to the high table-lands of western and central Asia. It was extensively raised by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; and seems to have passed through Italy into central and northern Europe. It has the widest climatic range of any of the cereals, being capable of cultivation in very warm regions, and within the limits of the Arctic circle. Though still used as a bread-corn in northern countries, it is cultivated generally for malting purposes.

Beet-root, Beta vulgaris, a native of southern Europe, but now under general culture in fields and gardens on account of its succulent roots, used as food for cattle, and largely for the extraction of sugar.

Brazil Nuts, the seeds of the Bertholletia exelsa, a lofty and beautiful tree growing on the borders of the Orinoco, and in the northern parts of Brazil. The produce, well known in our shops, is chiefly exported from Para and French Guiana.

Brazilian Grass, a misnomer, the substance so called consisting of stripes of the leaves of a palm, Chamerops argentea, used in the manufacture of chip hats. The island of Cuba furnishes the principal supply.

Bread-Fruit Tree, Artocarpus incisa, a native of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and

PLANTS.

257 of the Indian Archipelago. It grows also in the southern parts of Asia, and has been introduced into the tropical parts of America. The fruit is not equal to that of the banana as an article of human food, but is still an invaluable benefaction to the inhabitants of the tropics. A kind of cloth is made from the fibrous inner bark. The wood, of a rich yellow colour, is used for houses, furniture, and canoes; and a milky juice exuding from it, is also applied to economical purposes. The tree rises 40 or 50 feet, with a somewhat slender stem, which is branchless through nearly half its height. Bread-Nut Tree, Brosimum alicastrum, a native of Jamaica, the prepared fruit of which is an agreeable substitute for bread.

Buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum, grows wild in many parts of Central Asia, also around the Caspian Sea, and in the basin of the Volga. It is said to have been introduced first into Spain by the Moors, and hence bears the name of Saracen wheat in France. The cultivation of the grain as food for man and cattle prevails in several parts of Europe, and has been extended to the United States.

Camel's Thorn, Alhagi camelorum, a shrubby kind of herb, with bright crimson flowers, abundant in parts of the great eastern deserts, upon which the camel delights to browse in preference to other food.

Camomile, Anthemis nobilis, a perennial flowering plant, a native of Britain and of most temperate regions; highly aromatic and bitter; cultivated for its medicinal value.

Camphor, Camphora officinarum, a considerable tree, belonging to Japan, China, and Cochin-China, introduced also to Java and the West Indies. The whole tree is odoriferous with the product derived from it.

Caoutchouc, Ficus elastica, a species of fig, popularly called the India-rubber tree, a native of the country, from which a milky juice is extracted, which forms the product. It is obtained also from other allied trees in the forests of India, Madagascar, Brazil, and Guiana.

Cashew Nut, Anacardium occidentale, a tree common to both hemispheres within the tropics, bearing a nut, the kernel of which is in common use as agreeable and wholesome food.

Castor-Oil Plant, Ricinus communis, a native of Southern Asia, but naturalised in most warm climates, and under culture in the Mediterranean countries, the West Indies, Brazil, and the southern United States. The medicinal oil for which it is valued, is also used in South America for lighting streets and sugar plantations. The appearance of the plant obtained for it the name of Palma Christi, by which it is still occasionally called.

Cherry, Cerasus vulgaris, naturalised in Europe from Western Asia, said to have been. first brought to Italy by Lucullus after his triumph over Mithridates, B.C. 74, from Kerasunt, on the coast of the Black Sea, whence the name.

Chestnut, Castanea vulgaris, a forest tree named after the town of Castanum, near Magnesia, in Asia Minor, from which it was brought to Sardinia, and thence spread over the south of Europe, where it forms extensive woods. The nuts are of importance to the poor in southern countries as an article of food.

Cinnamon, Laurus Cinnamomum, a small tree found native only in the island of Ceylon, which is the principal district for its cultivation, but other species occur in continental India and Cochin-China. It supplies the aromatic buds called cassia buds, the dried bark of the tree, or cinnamon, and the essential oil employed in medicine.

Clove, Caryophillus aromaticus, a small evergreen tree of the myrtaceous order, the dried flower-bud of which forms the aromatic, called after the French clou, a nail, from its resemblance to the article. It grows naturally in the Moluccas, but has been conveyed to Sumatra, Mauritius, and some of the West India islands.

Coca, Erythroxylon coca, a South American shrub, the dried leaves of which are chewed by the Indians, with much the same effect upon the system as opium. It is supposed that 10,000,000 of the human race habitually partake of the indulgence.

Cocoa, Theobroma cacao, a tree of moderate size, from the seeds of which chocolate is prepared. It grows wild in Central America, and is also extensively cultivated in Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela, while introduced for culture into tropical parts of Asia and Africa. The generic Greek name, Theobroma, signifies 'food of the gods.' Chocolate was first made known in Europe by the Spaniards in the year 1520.

Cocoa-Nut Palm, cocos nucifera, a native perhaps only of the southern shores of Asia, the Indian Archipelago, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, but now diffused in all intertropical climes. It rises to the height of from 60 to 100 feet, and wears at the summit a coronal of leaves, which more or less curve downward, and are from 12 to 20 feet in length. The tree bears annually about a hundred nuts, and continues fruitful for a term equal to the full age of man. It serves a surprising number of useful purposes, besides supplying an article of daily food. To the Polynesian it is emphatically the tree of life. Year after year the islander reposes beneath its shade; he thatches his hut with its boughs, and weaves them into baskets to carry his food; he cools himself with a fan plaited from the young leaflets, and shields his head from the sun by a bonnet of the leaves; the larger nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with beautiful goblets; the smaller ones, with bowls for his pipe; the dry husks kindle his fires; their fibres are twisted into fishing-lines and cords for his canoes; he heals his wounds with a balsam compounded of the fruit of the nut; and with the oil extracted from its meat he embalms the bodies of the dead.'

Coffee, Coffaa Arabica, a native of Abyssinia, introduced from thence in the fifteenth century to the highlands of Yemen, in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, and now extensively cultivated in British India, Ceylon, Java, Mauritius, Brazil, and the West Indies. The tree in its natural state is from 15 to 25 feet high, has shining evergreen leaves, and at all seasons of the year blossoms and green and ripe fruit may be seen upon its branches. The best coffee, from Mocha, grows on hills described by Niebuhr as soaked with rain every day from the beginning of June to the end of September, which is carefully collected for the purpose of irrigation in the dry season. The noon temperature in March ranges in different parts of the district from 85° to 95°. Coffee was first introduced into Venice in 1615; into England in 1652; and into France in 1671.

Cork-Oak, Quercus suber, abundant naturally in the south of Europe and the north of Africa, but often planted in Spain and Portugal for the sake of the cork-bark. The two countries mainly supply the world with the material, which, besides its ordinary uses, is indispensable in the process of tanning.

The

Cotton, Gossypium, a genus of plants growing spontaneously in the intertropical parts of Asia, Africa, and America, belonging to the order Malvaceae, therefore allied to our mallow and hollyhock. The downy substance found in the seed pods, or raw cotton, is the most important vegetable product used in the manufacture of clothing for man. range of cultivation extends to the parallel of 35° on each side of the equator. There are three principal species, the herbaceous, the shrub, and the tree cotton, with many varieties. The herbaceous cotton plant is an annual, rising little more than a foot and a half high, with leaves of a dark green colour, and bearing a pale yellow flower. Of this species the Sea Island variety yields the most valuable product. It is, so called from being grown on the low shores and islands of South Carolina and Georgia, where the plantations are exposed to the spray of the ocean, believed to be the principal agent in making the cotton fine in quality and long in the staple. The shrub cotton plant, about the size of a currant

bush, varies in its duration with the climate, becoming a perennial in the hottest districts, and yielding two crops in the year. Tree cotton is of much larger growth, attaining the height of from 12 to 20 feet. It requires to be distinguished from the gigantic cotton-trees of the American forests, which belong to quite a different family, and yield a woolly substance which has not the manufacturing quality of the cotton of commerce. Egypt are the oldest cotton producing countries.

India and

Cow Tree, Palo de vaco, grows on the parched side of rocks among the mountains of Venezuela and Guiana; and yields a bland and nourishing milky fluid upon the trunk being pierced. At sunrise the vegetable fountains flow most freely; and are then visited by the blacks and natives, armed with large bowls to receive a supply.

Currant-Vine, Passulæ minores, a small-fruited variety of the common vine, cultivated in many parts of eastern countries, especially in Greece and the Ionian islands. Large quantities of the dried dwarf-grape are exported thence to England. The popular name of the fruit is a corruption of Corinth. In the neighbourhood of that city the plant was cultivated in early times, as at present.

Date Palm, Phoenix dactylifera, a native of northern Africa, so abundant between the Barbary States and the Sahara, that the district has been named Bile-dulgerid, the Land of Dates. As the desert is approached, almost the only objects that break the monotony of the landscape are the date palm, with the tent of the Arab. It accompanies the margin of the desert region, in all its sinuosities, from the shores of the Atlantic, through Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, to the mouth of the Indus; and is the only important vegetable affording subsistence to man that can grow in such an arid situation. The stem rises from 30 to 60 feet, surmounted by a crown of pinnated leaves. Such is the productiveness of the tree, that as many as 20,000 dates may be gathered from it in a single year. They are the principal food of the Arab population.

Doom Palm, Hyphane Thebaica, common in upper Egypt and Central Africa, where it sometimes forms entire forests. The fruit is used for food, but is inferior to that of its congener. Owing to its taste, the palm is popularly known as the Gingerbread Tree. Durra, Sorghum vulgare, a coarse cereal grass, but the principal corn-plant of Africa, largely grown also in Asia, and to some extent by the peasantry of Southern Europe. Fig, Ficus Carica, a deciduous tree of Western Asia, now naturalised and cultivated for its fruit in the south of Europe, extended also to most warm countries. Dried figs are an important article of food with the orientals, and are imported in immense quantities into Britain as a luxury, and for medicinal purposes.

Flax, Linum usitatissimum, an annual plant, native in Egypt and some parts of Asia, but adapted equally for cold or warm climates. It is now widely grown on the great plain of Europe, also in Ireland, Northern India, and North America. Its fibres are the material of which linen thread and cloth are made, while the seeds supply linseed oil, linseed meal, and oil cake. No plant not yielding food is more useful to man except the cotton plant.

Gama Grass, Tripsacum dactyloides, indigenous in Mexico, introduced into the United States and some parts of Europe for cultivation as a fodder-grass. It bears the name of the first cultivator, a Spaniard.

Gamboge, Cambogia gutta, a tree found in Ceylon, Siam, Cambodia, and adjoining districts, exuding on incision the gum-resin used in medicine, and prized in the arts for its beautiful yellow colour.

Guava, Psidium pyriferum, a low tree of the myrtaceous order, remarkable for its fine fruit, a native of tropical America, but fully naturalised in Ceylon and India.

Gum Arabic, Acacia Arabica, a tree found in Arabia and India. yielding a gum which

exudes from cracks in the stem. It is now obtained chiefly from other species of acacia growing in the north of Africa, from Egypt to Senegal.

Gutta Percha, Isonandra Gutta, a tree of large size common to the peninsula of Malacca, the Malayan Archipelago, and Ceylon. It yields a milky juice which, when dried, forms the well-known substance so useful in the arts of life, more especially as a complete non-conductor of electricity.

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, an annual, a native of the warmer parts of Asia, but adapted as well for temperate climes, supplying in its fibres the best material for ropes, nets, and cordage. It has been cultivated in Europe from the earliest historic times, and is at present largely raised for export in Russia and Germany. The area of its principal culture embraces India and China, Italy, France, the western United States, and Chili. The word canvas applied to hempen cloth, is an obvious corruption of the Latin name of the plant.

Hop, Humulus lupulus, a perennial-rooted plant with an annual twining stem, a native of Europe and parts of Asia, perhaps also of Britain and North America. The common name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon hoppan, 'to climb.' Though long known in England, it was not cultivated till the reign of Henry VIII., when the practice was introduced from the Netherlands. The culture is now more extensive than in any other part of the world, chiefly in the southern and western counties. It prevails also in France, Germany, Belgium, and southern Russia; and the plant has been introduced into Australia and New Zealand.

Indigo, Indigo tinctoria, a shrubby plant indigenous to India, highly valued for its fine blue durable dye, now cultivated in Egypt, the West Indies, Mexico, Brazil, and other tropical districts. The dye is the oldest now in use, being imported from India by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The annual value of the import at present into Europe amounts to upwards of £10,000,000.

Lemon, Citrus limonum, a native of southern and south-western Asia, supposed to have been first brought into Europe in the time of the Crusades. The tree is very extensively cultivated in the Mediterranean countries, and has been extended to most tropical and sub-tropical districts. Being hardier than the orange, it succeeds further north. The demand for the fruit is enormous, owing to the use of the juice in lemonade, and as a preventive of sea-scurvy. Sicily alone raises annually for export more than 13,000,000 lemons.

Maize, Zea mays, the bread-corn of the New World, and by far the most productive of all the cereals, is now generally cultivated in all tropical climates, and the warmer parts of the temperate zone. It was first brought to Spain by Columbus, and has become a staple of food to the south European and the African negro, while extended to the Indian Archipelago, China, and Australia.

Manioc, Manihot utillissima, a shrub found native in Brazil, extensively cultivated there and throughout the tropics, supplies in its fleshy roots an important article of subsistence. The meal obtained from them is known by the name of Cassava Bread in the West Indies, and Tapioca in the markets of Europe.

Melon, Cucumis melo, an annual, widely cultivated for its fruit, has never been met with in a wild state, but is said to derive its name from the island of Melos, in the Greek Archipelago. It was first introduced into England from Jamaica, and is grown entirely as a hot-house plant except in the warmest parts of the kingdom.

Mulberry, Morus alba, a tree indigenous to China, and planted there from time immemorial for the sake of its leaves, the best food for the silk-worm. It has long been extensively grown for the same purpose in France and Italy. Many attempts have also