MANIOC or Cassava: a large, woody tropical plant botanically known as Manihot, whose roots furnish the Cassava-starch and Tapioca of commerce. It is variously known in the West Indies and South America as Manioc, Mandioca, Cassava and Cassada, as well as by various other titles, and as Ubi Tanah in Java and the Malay Peninsula, now the principal United States sources. The roots range in size from a diameter of one and a half to eight inches, and from eighteen inches to four feet in length, growing in clusters which average from five to ten pounds each but often reach thirty pounds and upwards. There are two principal types, the "sweet" and "bitter." Tapioca (described under its own heading) is generally made from the former, but both are equally valuable for the production of the commercial starch or "flour," which is the form in which the bulk of the importations is utilized in this country--in the manufacture of compressed yeast, as a sizing material, in the textile industries, for glazing twine, etc., as a laundry starch and in various other industries. The Manioc root is an important native food in several tropical countries. In South America, a meal obtained by drying and grating is baked in thin cakes which are both nutritious and pleasing in taste. An interesting fact is that no water is added to the meal, sufficient adhesion being secured by the softening of the starch particles by the heat applied. The Sweet Manioc is cultivated to a limited extent in Florida and other Southern States. The juice of the Bitter Manioc gives Cassareep (see also).