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SCIENCES
prickles or warts; bears the denomination o f tat far a. _ O f the banana
(mafa paradißäca} they enumerate at leaft 13 different forts, diftin-
guiihed by different names, befides the large horfe-plantanes : they
cultivate at leaft two forts o f arum, viz-, the- common eddoes, with
a blueifli velvet- leaf, (arum efculentum) called tarro, and the large
kind, with green gloffy leaves, which they name ape, (arumma-
crorhizum) Befides thefe varieties o f plants, they have alfo- a kind
o f excellent apples, called- evee, nearly related to- the - Rrafilian plumb
(fpondias.J A large tree bears a kind o f fruit involved in a ftringy
fhell, in tafte not greatly different from the chefnut, which-they
name ratta-, and we gave it the -name of'- ihocarpus■ ediilis. Another
large tree likewife growing in the Eaft Indies,- and known by
the botanical name o f eugenia malaccenßs, is not uncommon in thefe
ifles; its juicy refreihing fruit is eaten in great quantities; and: bears
the name of e-hay a:- there is another large plant; which thefe ifles
have in common with the Eaft-Indies, known in the Molucca
iflands by the name o f pandang, in Taheitee; by that oi e-nuhära,
and to which we gave the botanical' name o f athrodaStylis fpinofa.
(See Forfiers Char älteres Gen. Plant, p. 149, tab. 7 5 . / Its
fruit grows in large el-ufters, and when ripe, it has an agreeable fmell,
but the tafte was to me very difagreeable:and aftrihgent; the natives
find it more palatable: the fame plant yields to them its large leaves,
which dried, ape- employed for covering, with a good thatch, the
roofs
roofs of their houfes': the male-flowers of this plant are ftrewed on
the head in the fame manner as powder is ufed by us, and its agreeable
fmell is reckoned a fine perfume for the better fort o f people,
and called heenanno: the Banians have imported this plant into
Arabia or Yemen, on account o f its odoriferous -male-flowers.
Forikal believes they have only the male plant in Yemen, where it
is called k e u ra ; one Angle fpike o f its flowers is fold for about eight-
pence.* T h e morinda c itr ifo lia , has, in Taheitee, the name o f
t-nono, and its fruit is fometimes eaten by the lower clafs o f people,
when they can procure nothing better : the roots o f the tacca p in -
natijida, or, as the natives call it, p e e a ; thefe of the draemtium
polyphyllum, or tev eh , and o f the p te r is g ra n d ifo lia ? • or e-nare, are
frequently eaten; the fecond and laft only in cafes o f neceffity;
when the leaves, o f a kind of purflane (portulaca lu t e a j called
e-atooree ■, thofe o f a folanum or pooraheitee, together with the
ftalks of the boerhavia procumbem, or enoona-noona are alfo 1 eaten,
after having been baked: the roots' o f the fweet potatoe, ( convolvulus
batatas) or e-oomdrro, and o f the-true yam { diofcorea alata & op-
pofitifolia) or e-oowhe, are regularly planted, and ufed as the heft
eatable during the feafon, when the bread-fruit is not to be had :
the kernel covering the infide o f coco-nuts, is likewife frequently
E 1 1 2 eaten
ARTS
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SCIENCES
Forfkal Flora iEgyptiaco-Arabica. Havnlaj, 1775, 4t0* PaSe */*•