Official Guide to the Kew Museums: A Handbook to the Museums of Economic Botany of the Royal Gardens, Kew

Front Cover
Reeve, 1863 - Botanical museums - 82 pages
 

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 37 - MATE,' or PARAGUAY TEA, the leaves of Ilex paraguayensis, St. Hil., and allied species (according to Mr. Miers) : in the province of Paraguay and Brazil cultivated to a great extent. The leaves are scorched and dried, while still attached to the branches brought in by the collectors ; they are then beaten, separated, coarsely ground by rude mills, and packed in skins and leathern bags. The leaves are infused in small teapots, of which several forms are here shown, and the tea imbibed either from...
Page 17 - Native of the West Indies, growing very slowly, and attaining a great size. The wood is remarkable for the singular brownish-green of the heart-wood, and its extreme hardness and toughness, which adapt it for pestles, mortars, rulers, etc. It contains a green resin used in medicine, which is obtained either from incisions in the trunk, or by heating the wood broken up into fragments.
Page 60 - Monocotyledons), and the first leaves alternate. 2. The species having woody stems, form isolated bundles of wood which usually do not increase in thickness year by year ; once formed, they remain unaltered in diameter, scattered through the pith-like substance of the stem. 3. The parts of the flower are usually in threes. 4. The veins of the leaves, excepting in a few Orders, are parallel, or if diverging, not irregularly netted. The Collections occupy two Floors, commencing in Room No. I., a small...
Page 15 - ... native originally of Western Asia, and to the south of the Caspian. From its innumerable varieties, affected by different climates and soils, we have, besides grapes yielding the various wines of commerce, other . , sorts which are dried, forming the Valentia, Muscatel, and Sultana (without seeds, from Turkey) Raisins ; also Currants, the dried fruit of a small-fruited variety of the Grape-vine (V. vinifera, var. corinthiaca), cultivated in the Ionian Islands, Greece, Liparis, etc. These are...
Page 74 - ACOTYLEDONS, plants which do not bear manifest flowers, nor produce seeds containing an embryo, as do the great Classes of DICOTYLEDONS and MONOCOTYLEDONS. Acotyledons furnish comparatively few economic products ; further investigation very probably may increase the number of these. The name of the Order represented in each Case is shown on a label attached under the glass.
Page 22 - Remarkable from the plant, after flowering, forcing the young pods underground, where they ripen. Extensively grown in warm climates as an important article of food, and for the sake of its oil which is largely used as a substitute for olive oil, also by perfumers in the preparation of pomades, cold cream, &c., and for soap making, burning in lamps, and by watch makers.
Page 8 - Plague,' largely collected as a medicine, etc., by whipping the plants with long thongs attached to a rake-like frame, the resin adhering to the leathern straps.
Page 25 - Some Attar is also obtained in the South of France, Tunis, and Persia, as well as at Ghazepore, in India. The Turkish Attar is almost invariably adulterated with the oil of an Indian grass (Andropoffoti). Various' specimens of Attar are exhibited, together with the tins in which it is exported.
Page 1 - We learn from them the sources of the innumerable products furnished by the vegetable kingdom for our use and convenience, whether as articles of food, of construction and application in the arts, of medicine or curiosity. They suggest new channels for our industry. They show us the variety in form and structure presented by plants, and are a means of direct instruction in most important branches of useful knowledge. " We see from them the particular points upon which further information is needed,...
Page 28 - ... sorts ; those of Jalalabad are famous, the husk of the fruit is very acrid, and is used in dyeing, and in medicine an astringent : the rootbark has similar properties. Pomegranate peel. Shih-lui-pi, CHIN., is used in China as an astringent. Pomegranate seeds, Anardana, HIND., used in India medicinally. The root is an excellent vermifuge. The bark has been used in dyeing, and it is this which gives the colour to yellow morocco leather.

Bibliographic information