The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-05-23
Vegetable Ivory.

So different are the products of the ami
NAL from those of the vegetable kingdom,
that even the most careless observer may
be expected at once to distinguish them.
Yet multitudes are In the daily use Of
ivory buttons, boxes, and small ornaments,
who never doubt that they are made from
the tusks Of the elephant, while they are
really the product of a plant.
The ivory plant is native Of the north
ern regions of South America, extending
just across the Isthmus Of
Panama, large groves Of it having been
recently discovered in the province of that
name. 1t is found in extensive groves -
in which it banishes all other vegetation
from the soil it has taken possession Of
or scattered among the large tree Of the
virgin forests.
1t has the appearance of stemless
palm, and consists of a graceful crown of
leaves twenty feet long, Of delicate pale
green color, and divided like the plume
Of feather into from thirty to fifty pairs
of long, narrow leaflets. 1t is not, how
ever, really stemless, but the weight Of
the foliage and the fruit is too much for
the comparatively slender trunk, and con-
sequently pulls it down to the ground.
where it is seen like large exposed root,
stretching for length of nearly twenty
feet in old plants. The long leaves are
employed by the Indians to cover the
roofs Of their cottages. Each flower of
the ivory plant does not contain stamens
and pistils,as in most of the British plants,
but, like our willows, one tree produces
only staminal flowers, while another has
only pistillate ones. Such plants are said
by botanists to be diecious. Both kinds
Of the plants of the vegetable ivory have
the SsUe general appearance, and differ
only in the form and arrangement Of the
flowers. In the one kind an innumerable
quantity Of staminal flowers is borne on
cylindrical feshy axis, four feet long,
while in the other few pistillate flowers
spring from the end Of the fowerstalk
Each plant bears several heads of flowers
Purdie. who visited the plants in their
native locality in 1916, says: "the fra.
GRANGE of the flowers is most powerful
and delicious beyond that of any other
plant and so diffuse, that the air for
many yards around was alive with myriads
of annoying insects, which first attracted
my notice. l had afterwards to carry
the flowers in my hands for IL miles, and
though l killed a number of insects that
followed me, the next day a great many
still hovered about them, which had come
along with us from the wood where the
plants grew"
The group Of pistillate flowers produces
large roundish fruit, from eight to twelve
inches in diameter, and weighing when
ripe about twenty-five pounds. 1t is GOV.
cred by hard woody coat. everywhere
embossed with conical angular tubercles
and is composed OF six or seven portions
each containing from six to nine seeds
These seeds, when ripe, are pure white
free from veins, dots, or vessels of any
kind, presenting perfect uniformity O
texture surprising the finest animal ivory
and its substance is throughout so hard
that the slightest streaks from the turning
lathe are observable. Indeed, it look
much more like an animal than vegeta
BILE product; but close comparison viii
enable one to distinguish it from the ivory
of the elephant, by its brightness and it
fatty appearance, but chiefly By its minute
cellular structures.
This curious hard material is the store
of food laid up by the plant for tn
nourshment Of the embryo. or youn,
plant contained 10 the seed. 1t CORES
ponds to the white in the egg Of the hen
and has been consequently called thu
albumen of the seed. In its early condi
tion this ivory exists as clear insist
fluid, with which travellers allay thei
thirst /; afterwards the liquor become
sweet and milky, aud in this state it i
greedily devoured by bears, hogs an'
turkeys; it then gradually becomes hard
1t is very curious that this hard mas
again returns to its former soft state il
the process of termination. The youn
plant for some time is dependent upon j
ioi ioou, uuu III tuc Sccu NC tdhcu OUT
the ground after the plant has appeared
it will be found to be filled with a sub
stance halfpulp and half milk, on whicl
the plant lives until it is old enough t
obtain its food on its own account.
From the small size of the seed, tn
largest not being more than two iuche
across its greatest diameter, the vegetabl
ivory can be employed in the manui'actur
Of only small articles, such as beads but
tons, toys, etc. What is wanting in siz
is, however, often made up by the skill
and ingenuity of the workman, who join
together several pieces SO as to make
lopg object especially when such article
are made by the turniug-lathe, when it
, easy to hide the joints from view.) o
makes lid from one seed, and the bo,
! from another. In some years as man
as $50 tuns Of seeds have been importe
into England, and they have been sold i
the market at the rate of a thousand nut
for seven shillngs and six pence.
. A Nashville mechanic has invented
ohnotinU. china xuh,oh ha o.na aaD,