Attempts have been made to introduce artificial manna made from glucose; and inferior grades of the drug are often manipulated so as to bear a close outward resemblance to the beat flake manna. In some parts of Sicily, the common ash (F. excelsior) is also cultivated for the manna it yields.
It is necessary to remark that the modern officinal manna differs altogether from the manna of the Bible (said by some writers to be a kind of lichen, and by others to be a saccharine exudation from Alhagi Camelorum, or Tamarix gallica var. mannifera), as well as from the Oriental manna of early European commerce, of which there are several kinds :—(1) " Alhagi-manna " consists of little, hard, dry tears, light-brown in colour, sweet-flavoured, and of senna-like odour, afforded by Alhagi Camelorum, a native of Persia, Afghanistan, and Beluchistan ; it is collected near Kandahar and Herat, during the inflorescence of the plant, and exported to India, to the amount of about 1 ton yearly, valued at 30s. a lb. (2) " Tamarisk-manna " collects in drops on the slender branches of the tamarisk (Tamarix gallica), in June-July, and is due to the puncture of an insect (Coccus manniparus). It is produced especially in Sinai, where it is collected by the Arabs, in the cool of the morning, when it is solid, and disposed of to the monks of St. Katharine; it is also probably produced in the Punjab and in Persia, though in the case of the latter country, the manna sold there under the same Arabic name, is obtained from Astragalus florulentus and A. adscendens, in the hills S.-W. of Ispahan. (3) Shir-hhist is said to be an exudation from Cotoneaster nummularia and Atraphaxis spinosa, and is imported into N.-W. India from Afghanistan and Turkestan. (4) "Oak-manna" is a saccharine exudation caused by the punctures of a Coccus on the small branches of Quercus Vallonea, and Q. Persica. It occurs in the neighbourhood of Diarbekir, in August, and is collected by wandering Kurds, at early morn, by shaking the trees over cloths spread on the ground, or by dipping the branchlets in hot water, and evaporating the liquid.
A number of other saccharine exudations, as well as some animal products, have been noticed by travellers, and designated manna. They are chiefly :—(1) " Brianccin-manna," a white saccharine
substance, found in the early moroing at midsummer on the leaves of the larch (Pinus Larix), on the hills near Briancon, and in Styria ; (2) kindred substances have been gathered from Pima glabra, Salix fragilis, and Scropltu/aria frigida, in Persia ; (3) also from the cedar (Pinus Cedrus); (4) in Spain, from Cistus ladaniferus ; (5) in Australia, from Eucalyptus viminalis ; (6) Tighala, or " Trehala," is the cocoon of a beetle, Larinus subrugosus (and maculates), found attached to twigs of Echinops candidus, in Syria and Turkey, where it commands a ready sale as food ; (7) 87tukhur-ul-Ashr, is a very similar structure made by Larinus ursus, on the Gigantic Swallow-wort (Calotropis gigantea), and used for food by the natives of India ; (8) " Lerp-manna " is also an animal product, found in Australia.
Matico.—The leaves of Piper angustifolium (Artanthe elongate), softened in water, or powdered, are used externally to stop bleeding, and, in infusion, to check internal haemorrhage. The shrub flourishes in the damp forests of Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, occasionally under cultivation; a stouter variety also inhabits the same territory. As it arrives here, in bales and serons, it consists of a compressed mass of leaves and stems, of light-green colour, agreeable herbaceous odour, and bitterish aromatic flavour. The drug is imported by way of Panama. Arica (Peru) in 1877 exported 19,773 lb., and Mollendo, in 1878, 29 quintals. The approximate market value of the drug is ls. 6d. a lb.
A number of other plants are used in Central and Tropical S. America under the name of "matico." The principal are :—(1) P. aduncum (Artanthe adunca), widely distributed in tropical Anierica; (2) P. kmceeefolium, in Colombia ; (3) Waitheria glomerate, in Panama; (4) Eupatorium glutinosum, in Rio-bamba and Quito. The leaves of No. 1, as well as those of P. angustifolium var. cordulatum, both of which have smooth leaves, are occasionally imported mixed with, or substituted for, true matico. Another species, having an anise-like odour, has also been met with in the English drug market, under the name of matico.