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 maté 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. Ipomœa 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.