STILLINGIA SEBIFERA. Willde., Mieheaux.
Sapium sebiferum, Roxb. Croton sebiferum, Linn.
Chelat pipal, . . BENG. Kiung-shu, . . . ORIN. Mom China, . . „ China tallow tree, ENG.
Wu-kiu-muh, . . CHIN. Pipa1 yang, . . . HIND.
Ya-kiu, . . . . „ The Tallow.
Kim-yu, Mu-yu, . CHIN. I Peli-yu, Hiueli-yu, CHIN.
It receives its Chinese name from the fondness of the cow for its leaves. It grows nearly all over China and Formosa, and has been intro duced into India. Its aspen-like yellow foliage becomes of a brilliant red colour in autumn and winter. The three-seeded berries dehisce when ripe, disclosing the kernels enveloped with the coat of vegetable fat, which renders the tree so valuable. The leaves yield a black dye with sulphate of iron. This fatty tallow substance is of a whitish colour, hard, and tasteless. The ripe nuts are bruised, and the pericarp separated by sifting. They are then steamed in wooden cylinders, with numerous holes in the bottoms, which fit upon kettles or boilers. The tallow is softened by this process, and is separated from the albumen of the seeds by gently beating them with stone mallets, after which the tallow is effectually removed by sifting the mass through hot sieves. The tallow still contains the brown
testa of the seeds, which is separated by pouring it into a cylinder made up of straw rings laid one on top of the other, in which it is put into a rude press, and the tallow is squeezed through in a pure state. A pikul of seeds (133f lbs.) yields from 20 to :30 catties of tallow, besides the oil which is obtained from the albumen by grinding, steaming, and pressing it subsequently. The vegetable tallow melts at 104°, and is composed mainly of tripalmitine. To make candles, it is mixed with white insect wax in the proportion of three mace of wax to ten catties of the tallow. The candles are largely used in Buddhist cere monies. In China the averaae price is about eight Mexican dollars per piktd Cases of poison ing in Chiva are generally treated with the tallow or the oil of the albumen, but the latter generally comes up. The tallow is also used in ointments, and the candle refuse as suppositories. The refuse of the husks and seeds is used as manure for the tobacco fields.—Smith, Mat. Med. Chin.