THE INDIAN ARROW-ROOT.

679

a. *'. le form of a lip. Stamens petaloid, with half an anther on its edge.Vie hooded, adhering to the edge of a sterile filament. Ovary three-e ed, smooth ; ovules solitary. Fruit even, dry, one-seeded.—Caules -plants with fleshy rhizomata or tubers. Sterns branched, oftenlc hotomous. Inflorescence terminal, panicled, jointed, with glumaceous,e cidu°us bracts. ( Lindley ).

kp. Char .— Culm branched, herbaceous. Leaves ovate, lanceolate,Kfewhat hairy underneath. Peduncles two-flowered. (Willdenow ).Phizome white, articulated, tuberous, placed horizontally in the earth,..giving origin to several, tuberous, jointed stoles [stolones tuberosi),_ rr Hlar to itself, but covered with scales. Those stoles are often morea-n a foot long and curved, so that the points rise out of the earthi. become new plants [Nees and Ebermaier). Stem two to three feetJSf 1 - Leaves alternate, with long, leafy, hairy sheaths. Flowers whitearid small.

I, • fo Maranta mdica Tussac (Journ. Bot. iii. 41) Ph. Ed. is characterized by its leavesv ; smooth on both sides, and by its white seeds; those of M. arundinacea being

id But after a careful examination Wickstrom declares that Tussac’s plant is, heal with the M. arundinacea, Linn. (Nees v. Esenb. and Eberm. Handb. d. Med.Pkar m. Bot.)

HsUi .—West Indies. In Jamaica it is cultivated in gardens and pro-^lon grounds.

( j Extraction of the Fecula . —The roots (tubers), when a year old, areup, well washed in water, and then beaten in large, deep, wooden* a rs to a pulp. This is thrown into a large tub of clean water. Thefoe i s then well stirred, and the fibrous part wrung out by the hands0 ^ thrown away. The milky liquor being passed through a hair-sieve,, c oarse cloth, is suffered to settle, and the clear water is drained off.c j the bottom of the vessel is a white mass, which is again mixed with® an Water and drained ; lastly, the mass is dried on sheets in the sun,!~ ls pure starch (Wright, Lond. Med. Journ. vol. viii.)r oi’erttes.— The fecula [fcecula marantee), called in the shops West

ei n n arrow - ro °l-> is white, odourless, and tasteless. It is in the formw* er of a light opake white powder or of small pulverulent masses,a ?. < n pressed between the fingers it feels firm, and, when rubbed, producesCn ■ fo crackling noise. Examined by the microscope it is found tostst of granules, which are never perfectly spherical, but are fre-tjj en % elliptical, sometimes obscurely triangular, and occasionally havee s hape of a painter’s muller.

India Arrow-root is the fecula procured from Curcuma angustifolia, and will be^ l j( ;d hereafter. (Vide p. C86).

Arrow-root is the fecula of Jatropha Manihot. It is described by M.4tid °?rt {Hist, des Drag. ii. 456, 3 me ed.) under the name of Moussache or Cipipa,"’Hi be noticed hereafter. (Vide Euphorbiace*.)

fy^OfofosmoN.—Arrow-root has been analyzed by Dr. Prout (Phil.ris - 1827), who obtained the following results :—

■fill

Dried between Dried at

Air dried, 200° and 21 ‘i 0 for 20 hours, 212 °for six hours longer,

£wbon.36-4. ..42-8. 444

-Tj Her .63 6.57 2. 55 6

Arrow-root .100-0.1000..1000

e formula which agrees with the third analysis is C 6 H 5 O’.