Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture

by William Saunders

120. Cissampelos pareira.—The velvet plant of tropical countries. The root furnishes the Pareira brava of druggists, which is used in medicine.

121. Citrus aurantium.—The orange, generally supposed to be a native of the north of India. It was introduced into Arabia during the ninth century. It was unknown in Europe in the eleventh century. Oranges were cultivated at Seville towards the end of the twelfth century, and at Palermo in the thirteenth. In the fourteenth century they were plentiful in several parts of Italy. There are many varieties of the orange in cultivation. The blood red, or Malta, is much esteemed; the fruit is round, reddish-yellow outside and the pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. The Mandarin or Tangerine orange has a thin rind which separates easily from the pulp, and is very sweet and rich. The St. Michael's orange is one of the most productive and delicious varieties, with a thin rind and very sweet pulp. The Seville or bitter orange is used for the manufacture of bitter tincture and candied orange-peel. The Bergamot orange has peculiarly fragrant flowers and fruit, from each of which an essence of a delicious quality is extracted.

122. Citrus decumana.—The shaddock, which has the largest fruit of the family. It is a native of China and Japan, where it is known as sweet ball. The pulp is acid or subacid, and in some varieties nearly sweet. From the thickness of the skin the fruit will keep a considerable time without injury.

123. Citrus japonica.—This is the Kum-quat of the Chinese. It forms a small tree, or rather a large bush, and bears fruit about the size of a large cherry. There are two forms, one bearing round fruits, the other long, oval fruits. This fruit has a sweet rind and an agreeably acid pulp, and is usually eaten whole without being peeled. It forms an excellent preserve, with sugar, and is largely used in this form.

124. Citrus limetta.—The lime, which is used for the same purposes as the lemon, and by some preferred, the juice being considered more wholesome and the acid more agreeable. There are several varieties, some of them being sweet and quite insipid.

125. Citrus limonum.—The lemon; this plant is found growing naturally in that part of India which is beyond the Ganges. It was unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is supposed to have been brought to Italy by the Crusaders. Arabian writers of the twelfth century notice the lemon as being cultivated in Egypt and other places. The varieties of the lemon are very numerous and valued for their agreeable acid juice and essential oil. They keep for a considerable time, especially if steeped for a short period in salt water.

126. Citrus medica.—The citron, found wild in the forests of northern India. The Jews cultivated the citron at the time they were under subjection to the Romans, and used the fruit in the Feast of the Tabernacles. There is no proof of their having known the fruit in the time of Moses, but it is supposed that they found it at Babylon, and brought it into Palestine. The citron is cultivated in China and Cochin-China. It is easily naturalized and the seeds are rapidly spread. In its wild state it grows erect; the branches are spiny, the flowers purple on the outside and white on the inside. The fruit furnishes the essential oil of citron and the essential oil of cedra. There are several varieties; the fingered citron is a curious fruit, and the Madras citron is very long and narrow; the skin is covered with protuberances.

127. Clusia rosea.—A tropical plant which yields abundantly of a tenacious resin from its stem, which is used for the same purpose as pitch. It is first of a green color, but when exposed to the air it assumes a brown or reddish tint. The Caribs use it for painting the bottoms of their boats.

128. Coccoloba uvifera.—Known in the West Indies as the seaside grape, from the peculiarity of the perianth, which becomes pulpy and of a violet color and surrounds the ripe fruit. The pulpy perianth has an agreeable acid flavor. An astringent extract is prepared from the plant which is used in medicine.

129. Cocos nucifera.—The cocoanut palm. This palm is cultivated throughout the tropics so extensively that its native country is not known. One reason of its extensive dissemination is that it grows so close to the sea that the ripe fruits are washed away by the waves and afterwards cast upon far-distant shores, where they soon vegetate. It is in this way that the coral islands of the Indian Ocean have become covered with these palms. Every part of this tree is put to some useful purpose. The outside rind or husk of the fruit yields the fiber from which the well-known cocoa matting is manufactured. Cordage, clothes, brushes, brooms, and hats are made from this fiber, and, when curled and dyed, it is used for stuffing mattresses and cushions. An oil is produced by pressing the white kernel of the nut which is used for cooking when fresh, and by pressure affords stearin, which is made into candles, the liquid being used for lamps. The kernel is of great importance as an article of food, and the milk affords an agreeable beverage. While young it yields a delicious substance resembling blanc-mange. The leaves are used for thatching, for making mats, baskets, hats, etc.; combs are made from the hard footstalk; the heart of the tree is used as we use cabbages. The brown fibrous net work from the base of the leaves is used as sieves, and also made into garments. The wood is used for building and for furniture. The flowers are used medicinally as an astringent and the roots as a febrifuge.