Sapium. Sapium sebiferum. Chinese tallow tree, Tankawang fat.
Sapium. Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb. Chinese Tallow Tree. Tankawang Fat.—This is a species of the family Euphorbiaceae, cultivated in the Chinese provinces of Kiangse, Kiang-sou, and Chih-kiang for the sake of the fixed oil which covers the seeds and is extracted by methods detailed in A. J. P., 1872, 264. (See P. J., June, 1872.) The "tallow" occurs in hard, brittle, opaque, white masses of about eighty pounds' weight. It consists chiefly of palmitin with a little stearin and is said to be nearly pure stearin. The oil is largely used for lighting purposes. The remnants of the nut are employed as fuel and as manure. (See also P. J., 1883, 401, and 1887, 901.)