CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF NATIVE TREES.
A resident at Omata, near New Plymouth, named Grayling, has been experimenting on the chemical properties af some of the native trees. Years ago we remember a substance, having something of the properties of catechu, which had been extracted by Mr. Grayling from the bark of the Kowai. More recently he has, according to the News, produced a valuable alkaloid, possessing all the qualities of quinine, from the bark of the pukatea (Atherosperma). It is in the form of a resinous extract, and from personal experience our contemporary is able to say that a small quantity taken up on the point of a penknife has the effect of a strong tonic on the stomach. This valuable drug would be in a more sightly form if it were crystallised, but the high duty on alcohol, which is necessary in order to produce crystallisation, prohibits the idea of that process being carried out economically. Mr. Grayling has also devoted some attention to the ferns, and succeeded in producing an extract containing a large percentage of tannin. By last mail he received from a Bermondsey tanner an order for five tons of this substance.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Mail, Issue 319, 23 March 1878, Page 11
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196CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF NATIVE TREES. New Zealand Mail, Issue 319, 23 March 1878, Page 11
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