# Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1/Guttifereae

XXXIII.-GUTTIFERÆ.
This is a small, strictly tropical, order, few being found to extend even a very few degrees beyond the tropics. For the most part it consists of trees, many of considerable dimensions, abounding in yellow resinous juice, that of some of the species, forming the well known Gamboge of commerce. The leaves are opposite, coriaceous, usually short petioled, simple, entire, I -nerved, with numerous transverse parallel veins, and without stipules. The flowers are either hermaphrodite or unisexual, either axillary, solitary, or racemose, or in terminal panicles ; occasionally in lateral fascicles.
Calyx free, often persistent, 2-4-6 or 8 sepaled, the sepals often coloured, resembling petals, imbricated by alternate pairs, the exterior ones often larger. Petals hypogynous, as many as the sepals, and alternate with them, or occasionally there are 4 in a 2-sepaled calyx, the outer pair passing insensibly into sepals. Stamens numerous, filaments either distinct, or combined into one, or four parcels, rarely definite; when unisexual, more numerous in the male flowers. Anthers adnate, one, two or 4-celled, bursting either lengthwise, transversely across the apex, or are circumsissile, sometimes, they open by a pore. Disk none, or prolonged in form of a rudimentary ovary in Mangostana. Ovarium solitary, superior, one or several celled, ovules solitary, or several, erect, or attached by the middle to a central placenta. Style none, or short. Stigma peltate, entire, or radiate and lobed. Fruit, either dry or succulent, one or several celled, with one rarely several seed in each cell. Seeds, frequently nestling in pulp, their coat thin and membranous apterous, frequently with an arillus. Albumen none. Embryo straight, cotyledons thick, inseparable : radicle either turned to or from the hilum.
Affinities. These have been already indicated under Ternstrœmiaceœ and Hypericineœ, the orders most nearly related to this, and the distinguishing marks pointed out : to these therefore I beg now to refer merely observing, that hitherto, so far as my opportunities of examining the Indian representatives of these orders extend, I have found no difficulty in discriminating between them. I do not mean by this to assert that difficulties are not found in distinguishing between these orders as now defined, but simply, that the Indian species seem mostly to appertain to the more marked, and least equivocal forms of each. Some further observations bearing on this subject will be found under the head of ' Remarks on genera and species' below.
Geographical Distribution. This, as remarked above is strictly a tropical order, very few species extending beyond that limit, Xanthochymus pictorius being mentioned by Mr. Royle as a remarkable exception, and my Calophyllum Walkerii may perhaps be adduced as a second example, for although a native of Ceylon, yet it is found only on the highest parts of the island at an elevation of about 7000 feet. These however can at best be considered as doubtful exceptions to the general rule, that they are confined to low moist localities partaking of a warm and humid climate, since neither can be viewed as genuine members of the order. This prediliction for warmth and moisture satisfactorily accounts for their predominance on the west coast of the Peninsula, where some species greatly abound, as compared with the east where very few species are found, and these very rare, being nearly confined to warm sheltered alpine valleys, enjoying a more humid climate than the plains. The southern provinces of Ceylon, Silhet, the Tenasserim coast, and eastern Archipelago, each partake largely of this order : wherever in short there is high temperature combined with much moisture there they are found. In tropical America they are said to be more numerous than in Asia, this however may be doubted, as it appears from Wallich's list of Indian plants, that including Xanthochymus he had no fewer than 40 Indian species ; while Mr. Don's system of plants, the last work published giving a complete catalogue of the order, has but 79, and these do not include several Javanese species published by Blume, to which it may be added, we have every reason to believe there are very many yet undiscovered in India and her islands, the Botany of every part of which has been less perfectly investigated than that of many parts of tropical America, though in truth, there is still a rich harvest for the enterprising Botanist in both countries. In continental Africa the order is nearly unknown, but several species are natives of Madagascar and the Mauritius.
Properties and Uses. DeCandolle remarks that without doubt the Guttiferœ would prove of great value, both for medicine and the arts, were they not exclusively confined to the warmest climates. As ornamental trees they are certainly not surpassed by any in the vegetable
​ kingdom, and if we may judge of others from what is known of the Pinney tree ( Calophyllum } the timber of some at least must be very valuable, but little seems yet known regarding it. Roxburgh generally so attentive to the uses and applications of the plants he describes is altogether silent on this head respecting Guttiferœ , contenting himself with the mention of several, the fruit of which is eatable, such as the well known Mangosteen ( Garcinia Mangosluna ) the Garcinia cowa, of Silhet and Malabar, the fruit of which is " eatable, though not palatable" the G. Kydiana, the fruit of which is " an exceedingly sharp but pleasant acid, and the aril or pulp, by far the most palatable part," and lastly, the Garcinia pedunculala" the fleshy part of the fruit, which covers the seed, and their proper juicy envelope or aril is in large quantity, of a firm texture, and of a very sharp pleasant acid taste. It is used by the natives in their curries and for acidulating water." As it retains its qualities when cut into slices and dried, he suggests, that it might be advantageously employed on long voyages as a substitute for lemons or limes. The pulp of the fruit of Garcinia paniculata he thinks more like that of the Mangosteen, than any thing else he can compare it to. The parched climate of this portion of India renders it unlikely that we shall ever succeed in introducing many of them here : Roxburgh tried in vain for 35 years to make the Mangosteen grow and be fruitful in Calcutta. The attempts made in the gardens of Courtallum have been more successful, for there two or three trees annually ripen their fruit, few in number it is true, but the trees are still young. Plants raised from seed saved from these trees were, I learned some time ago. thriving in Mr. Huxham's plantations in Malabar. From this source therefore, it seems not improbable, the tree will extend along that coast the climate of which appears congenial to the plant.
Of those producing Gamboge, Roxburgh particularly mentions two kinds, namely, Xanthochymus pictorius and Garcinia pictoria. The juice of the former differs so very widely in its qualities from good Gamboge, that it can never be expected to prove valuable as a pigment, until its chemical constitution is better known than it was to Roxburgh, and measures can be adopted to render it more manageable in the hands of the artist. This result the imperfect analysis of Dr. Christison seems to indicate, is most unlikely, since however well known, it does not possess the elements of Gamboge : a further confirmation of the opinion, expressed above, that it is not a genuine Guttifera. That of the latter is described as affording a bright coloured superior Gamboge when recent, but the colour liable soon to fade. The tree or trees, however, which produce the Siam or Chinese Gamboge of commerce is not yet known, though the result of late enquiries on the subject in Ceylon, leave scarcely a doubt, as to it or them being members of this family — neither is the kind of preparation known, which the finer kinds undergo to fit them for the European market. The account given of the course of this article to the European market is, that it is produced in Siam and carried thence to Singapore, whence it is imported into England by the China ships.
The best account we yet possess, so far as I am aware, of the qualities and composition of Gamboge is given in a paper by Professor Christison of Edinburgh, " On the sources and composition of Gamboge, with an examination of some analogous concrete juices" published in the second volume of Hooker's Companion to the Botanical Magazine, the whole of which article I should, had space permitted, have transferred to these pages, as being so much more generally read in this country than the work in which it originally appeared. Some extracts from this masterly memoir I shall however introduce, in the hope that they may lead to still further enquiry both in this country and in the eastern Archipelago, where the tree producing it, is most probably indigenous, and prove the means of putting us in possession of flowering specimens of the plant thereby enabling us to set at rest this long agitated question, viz., what is the tree that affords the Gamboge of commerce ? — one Ceylon tree, the one here figured under the name of Hebradendron Cambogeoides, has beep ascertained to produce a Gamboge, agreeing in nearly all respects with the best Siam Gamboge, whence it is presumed, and on good grounds, that a nearly allied, if not the identical, species is the one that produces the Gamboge of commerce, which it would appear from the enquiries of Dr. Christison is altogether derived from the eastward, none having as yet been exported from Ceylon for the English market.
Of the Ceylon tree, Dr. Graham, Professor of Botany in Edinburgh, has given a very interesting account in the same volume of the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, and shown that it is totally different from the Stalagmitis Cambogioides of Murray, the tree hitherto supposed, on most insufficient grounds, to be the source of this very valuable substance. ​ The following are the extracts, promised above, from Dr. Christison's paper, and which though copious, afford hut a very imperfect idea of the mass of information embodied in this lucid and scientific memoir.
"The source of Gamboge has long been a subject, of doubt and controversy among Pharmacologists and medical Botanists ; nor are the opinions and information, even of the most recent authors, by any means satisfactory. In order to understand this enquiry thoroughly, it is necessary to be in the first instance distinctly aware, what are the articles to which the name of Gamboge is usually given, and whence they are obtained.
In point of fact, a considerable number of kinds of Gamboge, differing more or less from one another in quality, and even in nature, as well as in their place of origin, are known in commerce. The most important and finest qualities are generally considered to come from the kingdom of Siam, and are imported into England from China by way of Singapore. Among these the wholesale druggist distinguishes by name at least two, and generally three varieties — pipe gamboge, cake or lump gamboge, and coarse gamboge. Pipe gamboge, which is invariably the finest, has sold in the London market during the last eight years, at prices varying from two shillings and ten-pence to five shillings a pound, exclusive of duty.* Cake or lump gamboge is sometimes very nearly equal in quality to the last, but is more commonly somewhat inferior, and therefore sells for at least three-pence a pound less. The two qualities are sometimes mixed in the same packages ; sometimes each package contains but one ; and frequently, on the other hand, the cases contain not merely pipe and cake gamboge, but likewise more or less of a very inferior sort, by the presence of which the price is materially affected. This inferior sort again, of which there are probably many varieties confounded together in the rude nomenclature of the English drug-market under the name of coarse gamboge, and which will be seen presently to be nothing else than a cake gamboge of low quality, often constitutes the entire contents of the package. In its crude slate this is quite unfit for the purposes of the painter, and is equally rejected for medicinal use ; and consequently it bears so contemptible a character in the market, as to bring scarcely ten-pence a pound, when the other sorts are worth three or four times as much. For this statement I am indebted to Mr. Stead, an extensive and experienced wholesale druggist in London."
" 1. — Pipe gamboge is so termed in the nomenclature of the drug-market, from its peculiar form. It occurs chiefly in cylindrical masses, from three quarters of an inch to nearly three inches in diameter, commonly hollow, and often doubled upon themselves, and cohering. Not unfrequently several of these pipes or cylinders are firmly accreted into irregularly-shaped cakes or balls, two or three pounds in weight; in which, however, the remains of the cavities may be traced, though much flattened. The surface of the unaccreted cylinders is dirty greenish yellow, and striated, evidently from the impression of the reed moulds into which it is run when soft. Where several cylinders have been joined together, and squeezed into a cake or ball, the mass is usually wrapped in large leaves, which appear to belong to a malvaceous or bombaceous plant. Pipe gamboge is very brittle, and presents a somewhat conchoidal fracture, the surface of which is smooth, brownish yellow in tint, and glimmering in lustre. It becomes bright Gamboge-yellow wherever it is frayed or rubbed, and very readily forms an emulsion, or paste of the same hue, when rubbed with the wet finger. It has scarcely any taste ; but alter a short time produces a sensation of acridity, especially in the back of the throat. Neither has it any smell; yet the fine dust, raised in pulverizing it, quickly irritates the nostrils, even in quantities inconceivably minute, exciting a profuse flow of mucous, and some sneezing, but without pain.
This variety of Gamboge is familiarly known to be an excellent and powerful purgative, which in the dose of three, five, and, seldom more than seven grains, produces profuse watery discharges ; nor has there ever appeared to me any reason for dreading its effects, as our predecessors did ; for its action is seldom or never accompanied with much pain or other uneasiness, if it is thoroughly pulverized with some other finely pulverizable substance, such as cream of tartar. Yet on the other hand, it is a dangerous poison in large doses ; one drachm has proved fatal ; and the cause of death is violent inflammation of the bowels. I believe that the occasionally fatal effects of a nostrum much in vogue in the present day, under the name of Morison's Pills, have been satisfactorily traced to an over dose of Gamboge."
"The best solvent for separating the r*>sin of Pipe gamboge is sulphuric ether. When agitated with the powder, a lively orange-red solution is obtained, which becomes Gamboge- yellow by dilution, and continues to show this tint when very greatly diluted, proving the exceeding intensity of the colour. On distilling off the greater part of the ether, and then driving away what remains by heating the residue in an open porcelain cup, a very beautiful, brittle resin is obtained, which has in thin layers a deep orange-colour and complete transparency, and in thicker masses a cherry-red tint, so dark as to produce almost complete opacity, and which possesses in fine powder a lively Gamboge-yellow hue.* It is remarkable that the very volatile fluid, sulphuric ether, adheres with great force to this resin, insomuch as to be the source of much trouble, and even error in a quantitative analysis. The vapour-bath heat of 212° F. 1 found insufficient to drive off so much ether as to leave the resin firm when cold ; even at the temperature of 270°, maintained by means of a muriate of lime-bath for six hours, so large a quantity was retained, that the detached principles almost always weighed conjunctly three per cent, more than the crude subject of analysis ; nay, a heat of 400° subsequently applied for four hours by an oil-bath, which I considered the highest temperature to be safely applied to the resin, and which sent off copious bubbles of ethereal vapour, still left a slight surplus of weight in the separated principles when summed up.
The ether leaves, in the case of Pipe gamboge, a flocculent matter, which, when thoroughly exhausted by the repeated action of the same fluid, coheres somewhat and acquires a very pale yellowish white colour. In fine specimens of this Gamboge I have always found the flocculent. residuum to be composed entirely of gum, presenting the leading characters of the prototype of the gummy principle named Arabin, from its forming almost the entire mass of gum arabic. It is entirely and easily soluble in cold water, forming a pale yellowish solution, which, when concentrated, becomes viscous, and when dried forms a transparent, reddish substance, of a mucilaginous taste without acridity. Braconnot thought the gum analogous to that of the plum-tree ; which, however, contains a considerable proportion of the insoluble variety of gum named Cerasin, a variety entirely absent in Pipe gamboge.
The proportions of the two principles vary somewhat, as will appear from the following results of trials made with one hundred grains of two distinct specimens apparently of the same quality.
First. Second.
Resin heated at 400°, till it ceased to lose weight 74.2 71.6
Arabin, or soluble gum, heated at 212°, till it ceased to lose weight 21.8 24.0
Moisture discharged by a heat of 270° 4.8 4.8
Woody fibre „ trace, trace.
Total 100.8 100.4
In another analysis so much as 27.3 per cent, of gum was obtained. But as the resin was not carefully determined, and there was therefore no check on the analysis, the accuracy of that result cannot be positively relied on.
It follows that Pipe gamboge consists of resin and gum, without any volatile oil, which is a very common ingredient of other gummy resinous exudations. The large proportion of gum accounts we'll for its easy miscibility with water, by which, on the one hand, its suitableness for the purposes of the painter is judged of, and which, on the other hand, renders it in medical practice convertible into a smooth and perfect emulsion, without any of the additions usually resorted to for that end."
" 2. — Passing next, to the lump or cake gamboge, it must appear evident, that the composition of this variety will vary much according to its quality,* * *" The chemical composition of Cake gamboge is also materially different. It is not, like the Pipe variety, entirely dissolved by the successive action of the two solvents, sulphuric ether and cold water. About eleven per cent of insoluble matter remains, which in cold water sub- sides commonly in two layers, the uppermost white, and very finely pulverulent, the lower one greyish, and rather flocculent. The former proved to be fecula, entirely soluble in boiling water, and then giving an abundant blue precipitate with tincture of iodine — the latter quite insoluble in boiling water, with even six hours of ebullition, burning entirely away, with the
flame and odour of burning wood, and with a mere trace of earthy residue, and therefore apparently woody fibre, or lignin. The analysis of two samples gave results nearly concordant,, as follows. One hundred grains were used, and all visible fragments of wood were excluded.
| | First. | Second. |
| Resin, dried in oil-bath at 400° | 64.3 | 65.0 |
| Arabin, dried at 260° | 20.7 | 19.7 |
| Fecula, dried at 212° | 6.2 | 5.0 |
| Lignin, dried at 212° | 4.4 | 6.2 |
| Moisture | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Total | 99.6 | 100.1 |
The proportion between the gum and the resin is here identically the average proportion already mentioned as existing in Pipe gamboge; so that, on simply abstracting the fecula and woody fibre, an article is constituted of precisely the same chemical composition. This circumstance, coupled with the presence of the particular principle fecula, and the vesicular structure of the cakes, renders it extremely probable, if not certain, that cake gamboge is not simply a natural production, but rather a manufactured substance — an adulteration For in the first place, it is the pure exudation plus so much impurity ; secondly, fecula is not known to be produced from the trunks, branches, or leaves of plants belonging to that part of the botanical system in which the true Gamboge tree undoubtedly will be found to be properly placed, and it is therefore almost impossible that its presence depends on some mere variety in the period of collection or other circumstance in vegetation ; and thirdly, the vesicular texture, so different from the compact, uniform texture of Pipe gamboge, is exactly what might be expected from the process of wetting the exuded juice, beating it up with other pulverulent substances, and then drying it. It might be objected that eleven per cent, of foreign matter is a small addition for an adulteration. But this amount may, after all, be quite equivalent to the grower's profit from the pure article ; and it will presently be seen, that a larger proportion of adulteration may so dilute the yellow tint of the mixture as to render it almost unmarketable,"
CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONOF COARSE GAMBOGE.
| | First. | Second. |
| Resin, dried in the oil-bath at 380° | 61.4 | 35.0 |
| Arabin, dried at 212° | 17.2 | 14.2 |
| Fecula, dried at 212° | 7.8 | 19.0 |
| Lignin, dried at 212° | 7.8 | 22.0 |
| Moisture disengaged at 350° | 7.2 | 10.6 |
| Total | 101.4 | 100.8 |
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CEYLON GAMBOGE.
" The following results were obtained from three analysis of Mrs. Colonel Walker's specimens, evidently different in purity. The quantity used was one hundred grains.
| | First. | Second. | Third. |
| Resin, heated at 400° | 68.8 | 71.5 | 72.9 |
| Arabin, dried at 240° | 20.7 | 18.8 | 19.4 |
| Fibre of wood and bark, at 212° | 6.8 | 5.7 | 4.3 |
| Moisture | 4.6 | not ascertaines | not ascertained |
| Total. | 100.9 | 96.0 | 96.6 |
Moisture not reckoned.
Here it is evident that the proportion of gum and resin to one another is as nearly as possible the same, with their proportion in some specimens of fine Pipe gamboge."
" November 28th. — To the observations made above, on the external characters and composition of the different kinds of Gamboge, it may be well here to annex a brief notice of the gambogioid juices obtained from two trees, which have been at different times supposed by some to yield the genuine drug, namely, the Garcinia cambogia, and Xanthochymus pictorius. ​ I am here again indebted to Mrs. Colonel Walker for my subjects of analysis, having very lately received splendid specimens of the barks of both trees, with their exudations concreted on them.
The exudation of Garcinia cambogia, as I am informed by Mrs. Walker, concretes slowly and imperfectly, so as to remain long viscid in the climate of Ceylon. The specimens sent to me, on arriving here, still continued soft enough to receive the impression of the fingers when squeezed between them. The exudation was chiefly in the form of long slender tears, of a clear lemon-yellow tint, without odour or taste, of a distinct resinous appearance, both externally and in their fracture, and wholly incapable of forming an emulsion when rubbed with the wet finger. These properties are alone sufficient to establish it as a substance altogether distinct from true Gamboge; and this distinction is still further shown by its chemical composition.
Suspecting that its softness was owing to the presence of volatile oil, I distilled 50 grains of it with water in an apparatus, in which it was easy to measure any fluid given off, to the fourth part of a grain ; and after repeated cohobation, there were obtained six grains of a lively yellow volatile oil, possessing a faintturpentine odour. From another portion, weighing 20 grains, the resin and volatile oil were removed conjunctly by sulphuric ether ; and then cold water took up a principle agreeing entirely with Arabin in its characters ; after which there was only left a little dark, brittle, fibrous matter, evidently from particles of the bark. The analysis gave the following results :
| | Per cent. |
| Resin | 66.0 |
| Arabin | 14.0 |
| olatile oil | 12.0 |
| Fibre of the bark | 5.0 |
| Loss | 3.0 |
| Total | 100.0 |
It is not a little remarkable that this exudation, evidently a true gum-resin, and containing, too, a considerable proportion of gum, is nevertheless not emulsive. The resin differs essentially from that of true Gamboge, being somewhat less soluble in ether or rectified spirit, and possessing a colour somewhat different both in tint and in intensity. Its colour is not orange, but rather lemon-yellow ; and its solution is so much less intense in tint than that of the resin of Siam or true Ceylon Gamboge, that the last two present an equal depth of shade when dissolved in ten times as much spirit as the other."
"Mr. Royle having expressed an opinion in his Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalayan mountains, that a kind of Gamboge may also be produced by another species of the natural family Guttiferœ, namely, the Xanthochymus pictorius* it seemed to me desirable to determine that point also by an analysis of its resinous exudation, which Mrs. Walker's specimens, have put it in my power to accomplish.
The exudation on the bark of this species is even , more different in appearance from true Gamboge, than that of the Garcinia cambogia. It forms small tears of a pale greyish-green colour, sometimes also pale yellowish-green ; and it is translucent like a resin. It does not form an emulsion at all when rubbed with the wet finger. It is pretty hard, and in cold weather pulverizable.
From the facility with which it softens when heated, it probably contains some volatile oil ; but my specimen could not afford me enough for ascertaining that point with care. For the same reason I could not attempt an exact quantitative analysis of its other component parts. But it is evidently a true gum resin, containing, however, less gum than that of the Hebradendron. Sulphuric ether removes a pale greenish-yellow resin, leaving an opaque glutinous mass, which is broken up and partially dissolved by cold water. The watery solution froths on agitation, and when evaporated leaves a viscous matter, evidently Arabin, or soluble gum. A small quantity of fibrous impurities and fleery particles remains unattacked by the ether and cold water. One grain and seven-tenths of the gum resin yielded 1.3 of resin, 0.3 of gum, and 0.2 of fibre, that is, 76.5, 17.6, and 5.9 per cent. This result seems to indicate the absence of
Remarks on Genera and Species. Dr. Lindley remarks " that European Botanists are much in want of good observations upon the living plants of Guttiferœ, and that there is no order that is more in need of elucidation from some skilful Indian Botanist than this." That such is a desideratum in Botany there can be no question, but I would, with much deference, suggest that European Botanists, who enjoy infinitely greater advantages for entering on the task of elucidation than Indian ones, should show the way, by thoroughly investigating the characters of the genera and species, so far as that can be done from preserve t specimens. It may appear paradoxical to state that European Botanists enjoy greater advantages for this work than Indian ones, but it is nevertheless true. Indian Botanists are few, and very remote from each other, with but little intercourse, and generally having other duties to engage their attention, whence Botany, in place of a professional pursuit becomes with them a mere recreation. So situated, few enjoy the opportunities required for the successful elucidation of a difficult natural order, even when well qualified for the work; each, only becoming acquainted with the species, within his own limited circle, generally too few to admit of his attempting from them any thing like a comprehensive examination of a complex order. He therefore, in place of attempting the nearly hopeless task here assigned to him, more frequently when possessed of a scientific friend in Europe, sends specimens there to have them examined and named, and but too frequently is disappointed in his expectations. In this way large collections of all kinds of plants, from all parts of India, have gradually found their way to Europe and been brought together in the large European collections. Let these in the first instance be well investigated by a scientific Botanist, the genera and species clearly defined, their present confused synonymy unravelled, and such descriptions as can be made from dried specimens drawn up and published, to put the less qualified Indian Botanist in possession of the information thence attainable, and then he will have a firm foundation on which to build his observations made on growing plants. It is true that equally perfect descriptions cannot be made from dried specimens, as from growing plants, but I feel assured, from my own experience, that even with this most disheartening order, much more might have been done than has been yet effected. Having thus pointed out the disadvantages under which, in this country, we labour from want of materials to work upon, I trust due allowance will be made for such errors and defects as may appear in the following attempt at elucidation, taken nearly entirely from the examination of dried specimens, some of which doubtless would have been avoided had my series of specimens been more complete.
I believe I may with perfect safety set out with the proposition, that the order itself as it now stands is very badly constructed, being composed of the most heterogeneous materials. One section Clusieœ, has an ovary with many cells, with many ovules in each, a dehiscent capsular many valved fruit, and (except when the symmetry is disturbed by abortions) a quinary proportion of the parts of the flower — almost the very characters of Hypericineœ, and consequently, much more nearly allied to Hypericineœ than to Garcinieœ : whence it is no wonder, Botanists who form such groups, should find it difficult to draw the line of distinction between them and their nearest allies. The Clusiece appear in short to be rather a section of Hypericinece than of Guttiferœ, and their removal would certainly render the latter group more natural.
The next tribe Garcinieœ, the true Guttiferœ, has binary or quaternary flowers, many celled ovaries with solitary or very rarely several ovules, and an orange-like indehiscent fruit. This tribe therefore is more nearly allied to the Aurantiaceœ, but is readily distinguished by their quaternary not quinary proportion. Professor Martius proposes uniting these two sections to form the order Garcineœ, excluding the next tribe Calophylleae. The separation of the section Calophylleae is certainly an improvemeKt, but still leaves the anomalous combination of two sets of plants differing so essentially in the same order ; the one, having a quinary proportion of parts and capsular dehiscent fruit, while the other has a quaternary proportion of parts and an indehiscent fleshy one, merely on account of some similarity of habit.
The third tribe, combined to form this order is the Calophylleae, trees associating in habit and in the binary arrangement of their floral envelopes, but having a drupacious 1-2 celled ovary, with one or several ovules, and a 1 or several seeded fruit, and differing so much in other respects ​ as to form but an indifferent union, which, as already observed, Professor Martius proposes to amend by the elevation of this section to a distinct order.
The fourth and last section, Symphonieae, of Choisy and DeCandolle's arrangement is also objectionable for the same reasons as the preceding, viz., its quinary proportion, besides which Canella, one of the genera referred to it, has alternate leaves. The stamens in this tribe are united into a tube as in Meliaceae, but differ from that order in the extrorse dehiscence of the anthers, and in so far might perhaps be advantageously separated from both to form a new order, the more so, as their properties are totally different from either ; those of Canella alba one of the tribe, being intensely aromatic. Species presenting differences so marked no Botanist would ever think of combining in the same genus, and I cannot understand on what principle genera, in which they occur, should be admitted into the same natural order, since, such combinations can only tend to prove the futility of the name by setting natural affinities at defiance.
On the principle of preserving simplicity of character, and at the same time conformity to that character among the genera referred to the order, I propose, though closely allied in habit, to separate the genus Stalagmitis or Xanthochymus from Guttiferœ. A binary arrangement of the parts of the flower, (2 and its multiples) forms the essential characteristic of the order, 2-4-6 sepals and petals, 2-4-6-8 carpels or cells of the ovary,' &c. but in Xanthochymus a quinary one prevails, 5 sepals and petals, 5 fascicules of stamens a 5, or by abortion 3, ceiled ovary, form the characteristics of that genus.
The want of uniformity between the characters of the genus and of the order is here most striking, and is such as to render it next to impossible for any one unacquainted with the genus to refer it, by its characters, to the order in which it is placed. To such anomalies much of the difficulty attending the study of the natural system of Botany is owing. Giving due weight therefore to characters derived from the number and arrangement of parts, it follows, that this genus must be removed from the order, and referred to some one in which a quinary arrangement prevails, such as Hypericineœ, or be made the type of a separate order. To me the former course seems the preferable one, since the only point of difference between the characters of the genus and the order, consists in the solitary ovules of the first, which in the last are usually, though not always, numerous, and in the structure of the embryo which partakes more of the character of Guttiferœ than Hypericineœ. In both a quinary order of parts exist, in both the filaments are united, forming androphores, and in both, we find a 5 celled ovary, with occasionally definite ovules. In a word the genus is much more closely allied to Vismiœ in its characters, than to any tribe of Guttiferae, and to that section of Hypericineae I think it ought to be removed.
On the principle here insisted upon, that no genus be admitted into the order in which a binary order of parts is not found to exist throughout the whole floral organization, it follows, that the order as constituted by both Cambessides and Meisner, its most recent expositors, must be entirely broken down, and the portion left to bear its name, reduced within very narrow limits. As I have not Cambessides' memoir to refer to, I follow iVleisner's exposition of his (Cambessides) distribution of the order. Here Choisy's tribes are retained, but some of the genera transposed — Mesua for example, one of Choisy's Calophylleae, is removed to Clusieae, and though strictly binary in its structure, is placed between two genera, in which the quinary proportion prevails. Gynotroches, a genus of Blume, allied in many respects to Garcinia, and certainly I think referable to the same section in a natural distribution of the order, is placed somewhat artificially, in Symphonieae, and in direct opposition to the original character of that tribe which is to have the stamens united into a tube. To Garcinieae the genus Stalagmitis, including Roxburgh's Xanthochymus, and the larger half of Choisy and DeCandolle's genus Garcinia, (a most incongruous assemblage) is referred, in place of to Calophylleae, in which it and Xanthochymus had been placed by Choisy. Calophylleae thus shorn of three of the four genera originally referred to it still remains, and to supply the place of those removed, two others, which have, since the publication of Choisy's memoir been added to the order, viz., Kayea, Wall, and Apolerium, Blume, are given.
In these remarks I have confined myself to the Indian genera of the order, with which only I am well acquainted, but, judging from the characters of some of the American ones placed here, I cannot but think that most of them ought to be excluded, and the order limited in a great measure to Asiatic species, and I feel but little doubt, when it has been subjected to a thorough revision, that such will be the result. Hitherto, it seems to ​have been considered a convenient receptacle for all manner of refractory plants, having opposite entire polished leaves, and square branches, however much they may depart from the characters of the order in the form and structure of the organs of re-production.
According to the arrangement I have proposed the Asiatic portion of the order, all that I undertake to investigate, might be thus distributed.
Guttiferae. Floral envelopes ranged in a binary order, (two and its multiples).
Suborder 1st.— Garcinieae — Ovary 4-6-8 or more celled : cells, usually, with one. rarely several, ovules attached to the inner angle of the cell next the axis of the fruit. Style short or wanting. Stigma spreading, lobed ; lobes corresponding in number with the cells of the ovary. Flowers axillary, solitary, or fascicled, peduncles 1-flowered, very rarely more. Garcinia, Gynotroches.
Suborder 2d. — Calophylleae — Ovary 1-2 celled : ovules solitary, or several, attached to the base, ascending. Style elongated. Stigma radiato-peltate. Peduncles axillary, 1 -flowered, or racemose, or forming terminal panicles.
This suborder may again be divided into two sections, or might perhaps be advantageously removed altogether to form a distinct order, on account of the difference observed in the ovary and fruit, but for the present I, in accordance with all former practice, Professor Martius excepted, allow it to remain as a section of the order.
1st. — Mesueae — Ovary 2-celled : ovules several in each cell. Peduncles axillary, 1-flowered — Mesua.
2d. — Calophylleae — Ovary 1 -celled: ovules solitary or several, erect. Flowers racemose, or panicled — Calopkyllum, Apoterium, Kayea.
The genus Xanthochymus I exclude from the order on account of the quinary arrangement of its flowers, and for the present refer it to Hypericineae, as being the order most nearly akin, in which that structure prevails. It may be objected to this proposal, that many of the Hypericineaehave quaternary flowers, but then, the ternary or quinary fascicles of stamens, and the 3 or 5-celled ovaries show, that that is not their normal structure, but the effect of abortion of parts. Taking number therefore as the basis of our classification, we can no longer experience the difficulty which has hitherto been felt in distinguishing the species referable to one or other of these orders, and however closely allied in all other respects, this character alone, preserves a clear and well marked line of demarcation between them.
If the precedent established by Dr. Graham in the formation of his genus Hebradendron be followed, we may, I fear, soon expect to see the off-sets from Garcinia about as numerous as its species now are, since that genus is separated on account of a variation in a single point of structure, and without reference to analogous forms met with in other species. The only point in which it differs from Garcinia, as defined in our Prodromus is — in having 1 -celled circumcissile anthers — while the more usual form in that genus is to have them two celled, with introse longitudinal dehiscence. Should this be considered a satisfactory reason for its removal, then G. Kydiana Roxb. which has a four-sided connectivum with a polliniferous cell in each face, must equally be separated from the genus, as well as another species of which I possess specimens from Mergui, the anthers of which are 1-celled, dehising transversely across the apex. Another variation of structure which has been long observed in a few species of the genus will equally demand separation, as being of at least equal generic value, I allude to those in which the stamens of the male flower are united into four thick fleshy androphores, with a highly developed sterile pistil in the centre. Here then, assuming that we are justified in assigning generic value to such variations of structure, limited as they are to the male organization, are four distinct genera, and all, so far as such artificial characters can make them, equally stable. I confess that I have an objection to this kind of excessive sub-division, in as much as, whatever rule holds good with respect to genera must equally apply to orders, and must inevitably lead to the elevation of half our present species to the rank of genera, and an equal proportion of genera to natural orders ; both of which might be avoided by a slight extension of our characters, and still better by a careful and comprehensive investigation of groups of allied species and genera, before attempting their disunion in the formation of new genera and orders. In support of these views I think I may safely cite the recorded opinion of ​the first living authority Mr. Robert Brown. He says in a letter to Dr. Graham referring to the plant which has called forth these remarks, " In your plant the structure of the anther is indeed very remarkable and might well induce you to consider it a new genus; but it is right to add, that approaches to this structure, and which serve to explain its analogy with the ordinary structure of the family exist in Garcinia, with which I suppose your plant would agree in its female flower as well as in fruit." From this concluding caution I imagine that, before establishing a genus on such grounds, he (Brown) would have ascertained the structure of the anther in the whole order, marked its variations, and then, and not till then, have determined on the propriety or otherwise of assigning a generic value to its variations : and f can scarcely avoid thinking, that had such a course been followed in that instance a sectional value only would have been awarded. I confess that a less perfect examination of the order, than that which improved materials has now enabled me to effect, led me into a similar error, on which occasion, I proposed to subdivide the genus Garcinia into three distinct genera: Mangostana, Cambogia, and Stalagmitis (see Madras Journal of Science, vol. 4, page 304). This suggestion has not so far as I am aware been yet adopted by any one, and I trust it will not, as 1 now consider it wrong in principle, the variations in structure, there pointed out, not meriting a higher than sectional value in a genus so strictly natural. Influenced by this reduced estimate of the relative value of the several structural variations mentioned above, it is my intention on the present occasion to keep the old genus together, but divided into sections in accordance with them. I am induced to do so from observing that the variations are limited to the male flowers, and do not on any occasion extend to the female. For example G. Mangostana and G. cornea, are referred to the same section, the former has 4-8 celled ovaries, and the latter usually 4, in G. Kydiana, Roxburgh describes the berry as being from 4 to 8 seeded, G. cowa from 6 to 8, and most of the others are described as having as far as 4, or 8 seeds, showing a general want of uniformity in this respect, variations, therefore, of the number of the cells of the ovary, cannot be admitted as generic, or even specific value in this genus. Should further acquaintance with the tribe show- that in uniting Hebradendronor rather Cambogia, Lin. (for they are the same genus and the latter the more appropriate name) to Garcinia, I have erred, the error can be easily corrected, and in the mean time, my sections will afford the means of more easily determining the known species, and of referring to convenient places such new ones as may be discovered. For the present, nothing is more difficult than to make out from description the species of Garcinia. This is mainly owing to the male flowers, which afford by far the best specific characters, being too little attended to in characterizing them. Generally speaking, they are dioicous, and in collecting specimens care should be taken, to procure them of both sexes. The foliage, except in a very few instances, do not afford good discriminating characters, and when it does, is usually accompanied by others which are more to be relied upon.
The following is the arrangement which I propose for the distribution of the species of Garcinia.
Subgenus l. Mangostana. Male: Stamens 4-adelphous, androphores, thick and fleshy, covered on all sides with anthers. Ovary rudimentary, supporting a large capitate, glabrous, abortive, stigma. Female — Stamens few, irregularly fascicled, usually imperfect. Ovary 4-8, or 10-celled.
§ I. Anthers oblong, 2-celled, dehiscence, longitudinal introrse.
§ II. Anthers flattened above, -celled, dehiscing by a transverse slit.
Subgenus 2. Oxycarpus* Male: Stamens monadelphous, androphores short, thick, fleshy, placed in the centre of the flower, usually 4-sided, anthers numerous, sessile or sub-sessile, capitate, with or without a sterile pistil— Female : Stamens 12-20, frequently imperfect, fascicled or monadelphous, forming a ring round the base of the ovary — ovary superior, 4-8 or 10-celled.
§ I. Anthers 4- sided, with a polliniferous cell on each side.
§ II. Anthers 2-celled, oblong, dehiscing longitudinally, introrse.
§ III. Anthers sessile, depressed, flattened above, 1-celled, dehiscing circularly, (circumscissile). Cainbogia. — Lin.
In the following synopsis of the genus I shall distribute all the known species according to the above arrangement, premising however, that I have seldom encountered one, whose species are more difficult to unravel, and that I entertain but faint hopes of succeeding in my endeavour to render clear, that which seems to have been very obscure to most of my predecessors. Of these, Roxburgh is the one on whom I have reposed most confidence, his descriptions, with a few exceptions extending to every part of the plant, and being generally made from recent specimens, are the most correct and perfect.
A similar plan has been pursued with respect to the other genera of the order Mesua, Gynotroches, Calophyllum, Kayea, and Calysaccion, (Apoterium I consider a section, only, of Calophyllum) and thus will be placed before the Indian Botanist the most complete account of the Asiatic division of this difficult and hitherto ill understood order any where published. That both errors and omissions will be found, is most probable, since such seem almost unavoidable even under circumstances most favourable to the attainment of accuracy, and such I cannot flatter myself are those under which I write, limited as I am in the time requisite for the elaboration of such a monograph, and equally so in the space I feel myself at liberty to appropriate to it in this work. The whole order however required elucidation, and the means of doing so to a considerable extent, having been placed at my disposal, I feel, that I should not have done justice to those who kindly contributed the materials, did I not do my utmost to render them available to the objects of science by their publication.
SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN GUTTLFERAE.
Sub-Order — Garcinieae.
Garcinia — Lin. Willd. &c.
Cambogia, Lin. — Mangostana, Gært. — Brindonia, Pet. Thour ? — Oxycarpus, Lour. —Stalagmitis, Murray, partly ? Cambess. partly. — Hebradendron, Graham.
Flowers polygamous, dioecious. Sepals 4, persistent. Petals 4, deciduous. Male — Stamens numerous, 4 adelphous, or monadelphous, with or without an imperfect pistillum. Anthers 1-2-4 celled, dehiscence various. Female — Stamens few or numerous, usually, 4 adelphous, the fascicles opposite the sepals — anthers generally imperfect. Ovary 4-10, celled : Ovules solitary in each cell. Style very short or wanting. Stigma peltate, lobed ; lobes corresponding in numher with the cells. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, 4-10 celled, crowned with the permanent stigma, globose, or slightly elongated, sometimes furrowed. Seeds, solitary in each cell — Trees, with opposite, coriaceous, shining, glabrous leaves ; the extreme branches usually somewhat 4-sided.
Subgenus MANGOSTANA — Gært. Male — Stamens very numerous, tetradelphous ; androphores, thick and fleshy, covered on all sides with anthers — Ovary rudimentary, supporting a large globose sterile stigma.
§ I. Anthers oblong, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally.
1. G. Mangostana, (Lin.) Leaves somewhat rhomboidal, obtuse; male — flowers fascicled; female— solitary, terminal: fruit globose, 6- 10 celled, (about the size of an orange).
2. G. cornea, (Lin.) Leaves oval, oblong, acute at both ends; flowers terminal, male aggregated; female solitary : fruit globose, 4-celled, (about the size of a lime).
3. G. speciosa—(Wal. PI. As. Rar. 3, page 37-258.) Leaves elliptic, oblong, acute, male flowers aggregated in the terminal axils, stamens 4adelphous, androphores, closely covered with anthers, sterile stigma flat, 4-angled : female ?
The male plant only of this species is known, the flowers seem larger than those of any of the other species of the genus.
4. G. Celebica (Choisy). Leaves ovate, lanceolate, acute : flowers axillary, solitary , near the ends of the branches: male — stamens 4 adelphous, androphores, thickly covered with anthers : female — stigma entire, concave, furrowed within, fruit globose.
The description of Rumph, Herb. Amb, 1, page 134, of the stamens of the male flower, is so precise as not to leave a doubt that this species, belongs to this section.
§ II. Anthers 1-celled, depressed— flattened above, dehiscing transversely.
5. G. Merguensis— R. W. Male — flowers axillary, fascicled: exterior pair of sepals minute, the interior ones large in proportion — female.
Merqui. — Communicated by Wm. Griffith, Esq. (No. 97, in Herb. Griff.)
Arborious, or shrubby, very ramous, leaves lanceolate, acuminated at the point: flowers numerous, small, fascicled in the axis of the leaves, fascicles 3-5 flowered, sepals 4, the exterior pair minute, bracteas-form, the interior pair large, and before anthesis completely enclosing the rest of the flower. Stamens very numerous, filaments united into four thick fleshy androphores, completely covered with sessile, flattened, 1-celled anthers, dehiscing transverselv across the apex. Abortive, pistil globose, capitate, glabrous, longer than the stamens. The female I have not seen.
Subgenus OXYCARPUS — Lour. Male — Stamens numerous, monadelphous, filaments united into a short, fleshy, 4-sided, sub-capitate androphore, covered with anthers ; with or without a minute, rudimentary pistil. ​ § I. Connectivum of the anthers 4-sided, with a polliniferous cell in each side, four angled at the apex.
Observation.— The extension of these cells, causing the absorption of two of the partitions, would produce the form which distinguishes the. next section, the more usual form of the genus, and if all the four partitions were absorbed, the 1 -celled anthers which constitutes the distinctive peculiarity of the 3 section would result : hence 4 cells may perhaps be considered the normal structure, and the other forms transitions caused by an excessive development of pollen from the operation of some vet unknown cause.
6. G. Kydiana (Roxb.) Hort. Bengalensis.G. Kydia Roxb. Fl. Ind. not W. and A. Prod.
This is I suspect the species to which Mr. Brown alludes in his letter to Dr. Graham, where he says, " but it is right to add, that approaches to this structure, and which serve to explain its analogy with the ordinary structure of the family, exist in Garcinia.'"
I II. Anthers oblong,2-celled,dehiscing longitudinally, introrse.
A. Fruit globose, not furrowed.
7. G. pedunculata, (Roxb.) Flowers terminal, long peduncled : male — fascicled ; female — solitary, or two or three from the same branch: fruit very large: (2 pounds weight) leaves obovate, cuniate, membranacious, marked with numerous prominent parallel veins.
A stately tree about 60 feet high. The leaves of this species differ from those of all the others of the genus.
8. G. paniculata, (Roxb.) Male — flowers panicled ; panicles axillary, many flowered ; female — racemose, subsessile; racemes terminal: fruit globose, small, 4-seeded.
The fruit of this species, raised in Calcutta, is represented as about the size of a cherry, that of native specimens received from Silhet about twice as large. The former greatly resembles that of G. morella, Gærtner.
9. G. purpuria, (Roxb.) Leaves obovate, lanceolate, acuminated: male — flowers longish pedicelled, aggregated, 4-8 congested in the terminal axils, 2-4 in the lateral ones: column of stamens short, capitate, filaments free, for a short distance at the apex ; anthers few, (12-20) occasionally one or two in the centre, simulating a rudimentary ovary: fruit globose, not furrowed, 4-8 seeded, whole fruit deep purple.
Roxburgh received specimens of this plant from Malabar, under the name of Mahi Mangostan. The specimens from which this character is taken, were communicated by Dr. Wallich, from the Calcutta Botanic garden, and of course identical with Roxburgh's. Rumph. Amb. — 3 to 32, may be cited as a figure of this plant, though a different species, except that his is the female, mine the male plant, but having full grown, detached, fruit, which seems to correspond in size and form with the Amboyna one.
10. G. lanceœfolia, (Roxb.) Leaves narrow lanceolate, acuminate : Male — -flowers axillary, and terminal, solitary, short pedicelled; stamens all united, anthers capitate; in the female about 20, filaments dilated at the base, and united, forming a ring round the base of the ovary, splitting irregularly into several fascicles, stigma 6-8 lobed, fruit somewhat obovate, 6-8 celled.
G. dioica. ? Blume, Bijd. 1, page 215.
Native of Silhet.
Roxburgh has figured the female plant only, I am indebted to Dr. Wallich for the specimens which have enabled me to characterize the male one — It is closely allied to the former but quite distinct.
11. ? G. Cochin-chinensis(Choisy). Leaves ovate, oblong, acute, flowers lateral, congested, white ; short peduncled : berry, reddish yellow, pear-shaped.
Hub. — China and India.
Rumphius, Herb. Amb. 3-32, is the authority for this species — it seems referable to this section, but is too imperfectly known to be referred to, with certainty.
B. Fruit globose or oval, furrowed.
To this section a long list of names belong, but I suspect very few species : at least, if each name really belongs to a distinct species I must confess my inability to find marks among the characters assigned by which to distinguish them. The following is the list of names referable to this section.
G. Cambogia, (Desrous) G. Cambogia, (Roxb.) G. Zeylanica, (Roxb.) G. Cowa, (Roxb.) G.Affinis, (W. and A.) G. Kydia, (W. and A. not Roxb.) ? G. Indica, Choisy.
These may be thus grouped and briefly defined.
12. G. Cambogia, (Desrous, Moon's Catalogue of Ceylon plants, not Roxb.) Fruit somewhat elongated, tapering a little at the ends, furrows broad, with angular edges, and intervening flattened, or but slightly rounded ridges, fruit yellow.
G. Kydia, (W. and A.) ? G. Indica, Choisy, and D. C. Rheede, Hort. Mai. I tab. 24.
This species I have now found at Courtallum, in Malabar, and in Ceylon : different specimens vary somewhat in the appearance of their foliage, and in the number and position of their flowers, but all agree in having the ridges and furrows alike square, as if cut artificially.
This to my mind is unquestionably the plant figured by Rheede, and therefore the Garcinia Cambogia of Desrousseaux, and all subsequent authors who have followed him, but is not the Cambogia Gutta described by Linnæus, Fl. Zeyl. No. 195 : neither is it Garcinia Cambogia Roxb. if his figure and description are correct, as both represent a plant having globose fruit, with narrow sloping furrows and intermediate semicircular ridges or costee like those of a melon. For these reasons I consider Roxburgh's plant a species distinct from Rheede J s, but not distinct (so far as I can judge from his figure and definition) from his own G. cowa and G. Zeylanica, in both of which, the fruit is described as spherical and torose (swelling over the seeds] which is indeed the only mark on which it appears to me the slightest dependence can be placed. These species therefore I unite, assigning one specific name, for the whole.
13. G. Rqxburgii (R. W.) Fruit globose, 6-8, furrowed ; furrows narrow, sloping towards the bottom: intermediate costæ or ridges rounded : male — flowers aggregated or solitary, axillary, or terminal : female — flowers usually, solitary, nearly sessile, sometimes, when terminal, two or three together.
G. Cambogia, Roxb. cor. pi. 3-298— Fl. Ind. 2-621, not Desrous: G. Zeylanica, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2-621, G. Cowa, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2-622, W. and A. Prod. 1-101. Garcinia affinis(W. and A.)
The depth of the furrows varies, they are deeper in G. Cambogia, less so in G. Zeylanica and Cowa, but in all totally different from those of the preceding.
I have not quoted Linnæus' Cambogia Gutta for either of these, though it seems the general opinion of Botanists that it belongs to the former. This opinion however, his brief description of the plant before him in the flora Zeylanica, shows to be erroneous, and proves almost to demonstration that that it is Dr. Graham's Hebradendron. The following are his words " Rami oppositi. Folia lanceolato-ovata, integerima, petiolata, ​opposita. Flores verticillati sessiles. If. is in truth the only plant of !he genus in Ceylon, having sessile verticelled flowers. In his generic character he describes the anthers, antherœ subrotundœ, the pistil germen subrotandum striatum., stylus, nulus. Stigma quadrifidum persistent, and finally, the pericarp. Pomum subrotundum octies sulcatum octoloculare — showing clearly that the character of the flower and ovary is taken from one species, and of the fruit from a different, owing to the imperfection of his specimens and his not being aware that the lobes of the stigma afford a sure indication of the number of cells of the fruit. His Cambogia, however, baring this error is certainly the Gamboge plant of Ceylon, which is further established, as Dr. Graham informs us, by the examination of the specimen in Herman's Herbarum, " which may be considered the type of Linnæus' Cambogia gutta — If therefore that plant is to be elevated to the rank of a genus I should say his name ought unquestionably to be retained with an amended character, and Botany relieved from the unseemly allusion conveyed under the new one. If Murray's Stalagmitis is on account of priority to supplant Roxburgh's Xanthochymus, much more must Linnaeus' Cambogia supplant Graham's Hebradendron, partly for the same reason, priority, but principally, because Dr. Graham knew when he gave the name, that his plant was identical with that of Linnaeus, while it was almost impossible that Roxburgh could ever recognize his Xanthochymus in Murray's character of Stalagmitis, made up as it is, from two genera (Garcinia and Xanthochymus) so distinct as not to be referable even to the same natural order. In my opinion Stalagmitis ought to be suppressed, and Xanthochymus retained.
In my collection there are specimens of I think, though not without some doubt, a third species referable to this section, (fruit sulcated) the fruit is 4-celled, with four deep abrupt furrows, and of an oblong conical shape.
14. G. conicarpa (R.W.) Fruit conical, 4-seeded,4-furrowed, furrows angular: leaves sub-spathulate, very obtuse, longish petioled : flowers sub-sessile in the terminal axils: (?) male — stamens few, 8-12, filaments united into a slender column, equalling the sepals.
Hab. Female — Shevagherry hills in deep mountain valleys — Male : Ceylon. I have introduced a mark of doubt before the character of the male, from feeling uncertain, on account of the very different stations, whether or not it appertains to the same species. In the form of the leaves and position of the flowers they agree.
§ III. Anthers sessile, depressed-fattened above, l-celled, dehiscing circularly, ( circumscissile ). Cambogia--Lin.
15. G. gutta (R.W.) Flowers sessile, aggregated in the axils of the leaves, apparently verticelled round the articulations of the branches where the leaves have fallen, fruit globose, about the size of a cherry, 4-seeded, leaves from broad lanceolate, to rhomboidal, obtusely attenuated at both ends.
Ceylon frequent, not uncommon about Colombo, and generally on the south-west coast of the island.
Cambogia gutta Lin. Hebradendron Cambogioides, Graham, Hooker's Comp. Bot. Mag. with all his synonyms, including the above of Linnæus. Lind : Flor. Med. R. W. III: Ind. Bot. tab. 44.
16. G. pictoria, (Roxb.) Flowers axillary, solitary, anthers of the male flower " peltate" of the female " 2- lobed and seemingly fertile" fruit, very slightly furrowed between the seeds ; seeds four.
Hab. — Malabar and Wynaad, jungles.
Though I consider this a distinct species I am unable from an examination of Roxburgh's drawing and description, to assign better characters. The difference of the anthers of the female flowers afford the best mark, which in the former are like the male " peltate," in this 2-lobed and 2-celled, (the ordinary structure) and of course reducing the value of that character as a generic distinction.
17- G. elliptica ? (Wall.) Leaves large, coriaceous, elliptic, obtuse, abruptly and shortly acuminated : female — flowers sessile, axillary, ovary 4-celled, anthers circumscissile.
Hab. — Mergui.
My specimens of this plant were communicated by Mr. Griffith, they are the female only and somewhat past flower. I was however enabled to refer it to this section, by the examination of some anthers which were still attached, and also by the habit, especially the sessile flowers. The leaves are longish petioled, and at least three times the size of those of the Ceylon plant, of an oval shape, and very little attenuated at either base or apex. I refer it doubtfully to Wallich's elliptica, on the authority of Dr. Graham, who states that it G. elliptica Wall, agrees in the character of the anthers with his Ceylon specimens.
Do the following belong to this section ; and are they distinct species ?
18. G. lateriflora (Blume, Bijd. 1, page 215), Ramuli roundish, leaves elliptic oblong, obtusely acuminated, acute at the base, coriaceous : flowers congested, lateral, sessile — (Calyx 4 sepals, petals 4, stamens monadelphous, in a single series ; ovary, 4-celled ; stigma sessile, muitifid : berry globose, 4-celled — a tree 40-50 feet high.)
Obs. — The female flowe. only of this seems to be known whence he infers the species is hermaphrodite, and on that account distinct from.
19. G. javanica, (Blume, 1. c.) Ramuli roundish, leaves oval, acute at both ends, blunt pointed, coriaceous: flowers congested, sessile, aggregated, (allied to G. dioica) — a tree 30 feet high, flowers dioicous, yellowish, ovary slightly furrowed, 4-celled.
Obs. — The sessile aggregated flowers and 4-celled fruit of both these plants, leads me to suspect that they both belong to this section, and that they are but varieties of the same species.
Species imperfectly known.
20. G. gutta, Roxb. Hort. Beng. Wall, list N. 4866.
21. G. boobicowa, Roxb. 1. c.
22. G. bhumicowa, Wall. 1. 4858.
23. G. fascicularis, Wall. 1. 4853.
24. G. affinis, Wall. 1. 4854.
25. G. heterandra, Wall. 1. 4856.
26. G. corymbosa, Wall. 1. 4859.
27. G. umbilifera, Roxb. 1. c. and Wall. 1. 4864.
28. G. lobulosa, Wall. 1. 4868.
29. G. elliptica, Wall. 1. 4869.
30. G. Choisyana, Wall. 1. 4870.
31. G. acuminata, Wall. 1. 4871.
32. G. euginifolia, Wall. 1. 4873.
Species excluded.
G. malabarica, (Desrous) Lam. diet. Dyospyros species ?
G. elliptica, (Choisy). Stamens pentadelphous — Xanthochymus species ?
? G. longifolia, (Blume). " Stigmate, sub. 5 — radiato" Xanthochymus species ?
? Gynotrociies, Blume, Bijd, 1-218.
Calyx. 4-parted, persistent. Petals 4, fimbriated. Disk, hypogynous, bearing' the stamens on its margin. Stamens 8. Ovary, 6-8 celled •, cells, 3-ovuled. Style, filiform. Stigma, peltato — radiate. Berry globose, pulpy, 4-6 celled. Seeds compressed, solitary by abortion, fixed to the axis. ​ A large tree with opposite elliptic, oblong, coriaceous leaves, acute at both ends. Peduncles congested, axillary, 1 -flowered.
1. G. axillaris, (Blume). Java on the heights of Salak, flowers October and May.
This genus seems to form the connecting link between Guttiferœ and Hypericineœ, having the quaternary flowers' of the one and the polysporous cells of the ovarium of the other. It associates better with Garcinieœ than Calophyllieœ, on account of the ovules being attached to the axis, not the base of the cells as in that sub-order.
SUBORDER — CALOPHYLLIEAE.
SECTION I. — MESUEÆ.
MESUA. — Lin.
The species of this genus seem to be involved in considerable obscurity, apparently owing to no one having had an opportunity of comparing specimens from different countries. The original M. ferrea, is from Ceylon, and is well described by Linnæus in his flora Zeylanica. He quotes Rheede Mai. 3 t. 53, as a synonym, and in that, it is my impression he is right, though the figure represents a specimen greatly exceeding, in the size of its leaves and flowers, those I have from Ceylon. This however, Choisv has separated from the Linnæan plant, and called it M. speciosa, a very appropriate name, which, until furnished with better materials I shall not attempt to disturb. He (Choisy) quotes as an authority for his M. ferrea, a figure of Rumphius 7 tab. 2. This figure I have not an opportunity of consulting as my copy is incomplete, in that part, but I have reason to believe the synonym erroneous, as I have specimens from Mergui, communicated by Mr. Griffith, which seem exactly to quadrate with his character, though quite distinct from the Ceylon plant. Roxburgh again describes under the same name a plant diifering from bath, and readily distinguished by having its flowers terminal, rarely axillary, " solitary or in pairs" a character which perfectly corresponds with specimens communicated to me by Dr. Wallich, under Roxburgh's name, M. ferrea. The M. ferrea again of our Prodromus appears different from all the others in the diminutive size of its leaves and flowers, and in wanting the thick coating of white bloom on the under surface of its leaves so conspicuous on the Ceylon plant. The M. ferrea, of Blume, I cannot with certainty refer to any of the above, unless perhaps to my Mergui plant, and that merely on account of the introduction of the words " pedunculis axillaribus" indicative of the presence of a conspicuous peduncle, which it has, while all the others have the flowers nearly sessile, or on very short peduncles. These various forms may be thus characterized and designated.
1.M. speciosa, (Choisy D. C. prod. I, page 562). Leaves very long, linear, lanceolate, acute : .flowers sub- sessile; petals roundish, regular: ripe fruit 4-seeded. Rheede, Hort. Mai. 3, t. 53, excluding all other synonyms.
Woods of Malabar.
2. M. ferrea, (Lin. sp. 734). Leaves lanceolate, acute at both ends, ending in a long tapering acumen, bright shining green above, beneath white, from a thickish coating of a pulverulent or scaly incrustation: flowers axillary, solitary, subsessile.
Ceylon, frequent.
A beautiful tree, with numerous large, yellow, fragrant flower*, decorating its slender pendulous ramuli : altogether, when in flower, one of the most ornamental trees I hare ever seen.
3. M. Roxburghii, (R. W.) Leaves lanceolate, shortly acuminate, acute, coriaceous, bright shining green above, glaucous beneath, flowers terminal, solitary, or paired (one from the axil of each terminal leaf,) short pedicelled, petals subunguieulate, obcordate, curled on the margin, " capsule about the size of a crab apple, nearly round with an acute point, 1 -celled, 1-4 seeded, the partition nearlv obliterated, 2-valved."
M. ferrea, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2, page 605.
Bengal about Calcutta.
This is perhaps too closely allied to the former, the principal difference being in the flower bearing ramuli, of this having but one or at most two flowers confined to the apex, while in the other they occupy the axils of many pairs of leaves all along the branch. It has besides the appearance of being a much more rigid plant than the Ceylon one. The terminal solitary flowers mentioned by Roxburgh 30 years ago, is still the same in my specimens gathered last year, and probably from very different plants from those which he described, a circumstance affording considerable collateral support to the opinion that they are distinct species.
4. M. coromandelina, (R.W.) Leaves narrow lanceolate, ending in a long tapering blunt pointed acumen, bright shining green above, paler beneath, but scarcely glaucous : flowers axillary and terminal ; peduncles shorter than the petiols.
M. ferrea, W. and A. Prod.
Courtallum in woods.
A very handsome tree. The very diminutive, size of the leaves and flowers of this, as compared, with those of all the preceding, not less than the disappearance of the white glaucous crust so conspicuous on all the others, lead me to consider it distinct. The leaves which in these are from 5 to 7 inches long and 1¼ to l½ broad, do not in this exceed 2½ long by about ½ an inch in breadth, the flowers are small in proportion.
5. M. pedunculala, (R. W.) Leaves lanceolate, acute, somewhat abruptly acuminated, glaucous beneath : flowers axillary, large, frequently paired, peduncles about twice the length of the petiols.
M. ferrea, ? Choisy, D. C. Prod. Blume, Bijd.
Mergui. — Communicated by Wm. Griffith, Esq.
The long peduncled twin flowers of this species, readily distinguish it from all the preceding, and proclaim the tree a very beautiful one when in full flower.
Section II. — Calophylleae.
Calophyllum — Lin.
The very peculiar venation of the leaves at once distinguishes this genus, almost without reference to the fructificatiou, but the discrimination of the species is by no means so easy, indeed the circumstance that marks them out as members of the same family, a strong family likeness, equally serves to render difficult their distinction from each other. They do however afford some useful sectional marks in the number of parts composing the floral envelopes. In all, these parts, whether we choose to call them calyx or corolla, are petaloid ; to avoid therefore the inconvenience that might arise from calling parts sepals, which if removed from the flower and laid side by side with others occupying the place of petals, could not by external characters, be distinguished, I shall group the whole under the intermediate term perianth, and subdivide the genus into sections, depending not on the number of sepals or petals, which in the estimation of some Botanists, seem, in this genus, to be convertible terms, but according to the number of leaves of the perianth, the first section, having 12, the ​second 8, and the third 4. This arrangement is nearly the same as Choisy's in DeCandolle's Prod, namely — sepals 4, or 2, or wanting, the last section very unphilosophical. The first step therefore in the process of reducing a species of Calophyllum is easy, not so the subsequent ones, especially where there is a considerable number of forms to be reduced, owing to the characters of the species being generally so loosely constructed that it seems next, to impossible to say to what form they are limited; such, strange to say, are those even of Roxburgh, and not being as usual, aided by full descriptions, leaves the whole involved in doubt and uncertainty. Whether I shall be able to draw more precise characters is uncertain, but to prevent my meaning being mistaken I shall publish figures of all the species of which I have specimens, and trust Dr. Wallich will enable me to add, so far as they extend, the figures left by Dr. Roxburgh.
§ I. Leaves of the Pereanth12— (4 sepals and 8 petals.)
1. C. Walkerii, (R. W.) A large tree, branches terete, leaves nearly round or obcordate, very thick and coriaceous : racemes axillary, congested on the ends of the branches, the extreme ones (from the abortion of the leaves) forming a terminal panicle, exterior pair of sepals much smaller than the interior, inner row of petals smaller than the outer, fruit spherical, about the size of a pretty large cherry, pericarp veiy thick and coriaceous.
Newera Ellia Ceylon, at an elevation of 7000 feet — also on Adam's peak, but there a smaller tree.
This magnificent species, which I have dedicated to my friend Colonel Walker, from whom I first received specimens, is observed to flower only once in three years. The figure I may here remark, which was made from a dried specimen, does not give a very good idea of the magnificence of the inflorescence, owing to its being in rather too young a state.
2. C. Blumii, (R. W.) " Leaves obovate, elliptic, obtuse, or emarginate ; ramuli terete : flowers laxly, racemose; racemes axillary, solitary; pedicels 1-flowered, sub-opposite. (Calyx 4 sepals, caducous : petals 8, unequal, white. Stamens numerous, 5-6 adelphous at the base; anthers oblong, opening by two pores, (apice 2 perforatœ). Ovary 1-seeded: style filiform, infiexed: stigma capitate : nut 1-seeded.") — Blume.
Calophyllum inophyllum — Blume, Bijd. 1, page 217.
The above character is copied from Blume, I do not know the plant, but the 4 sepals and 8 petals prove that it cannot beC. inophyllum.
§ II. Leaves of the Perianth S (sepals 4, petals 4.)
3. C. inophyllum, (Lin.) Branches terete : leaves elliptical, passing into obovate, sometimes emarginate, racemes axillary, loose : exterior sepals smaller, interior about equal to the petals (pure while) all petaloid : stamens numerous, irregularly polyadelphous near the base: ovary globose, (reddish purple) elevated on a short gynophore : fruit sphærical , about the size of a large cherry.
C. inophyllum, Choisy and others, excluding Rumphius' synonym — Ponna marum, Rheede, Hort. Mai. 4, t. 38.
A very beautiful tree, with delightfully fragrant flowers, frequent in Malabar, more rare on the Coromandel coast.
The timber of this tree, though coarse grained, is considered very valuable for some purposes in ship-building, and the seeds afford a good lamp oil.
4. C. Bintagor, (Roxb.Fl. Ind. 2-607.) " Twigs cylindric, leaves oblong, emarginate, base tapering, lucid, finely veined" (Roxb.) fruit large, about the size of a small apple or billiard ball, sphærical, fleshy.
This species I only know from Roxburgh's imperfect character and Rumphius' figure, which Roxburgh says, " is a bad figure of this beautiful tree." Rumphius however is so great an admirer of the tree, that his description is quite poetical, but much too diffuse for quotation, his figure is usually quoted for C. inophyllum.
5. C. tomentosum, (R. W.) Young shoots square, and with the petiols and peduncles of the flowers, thickly clothed with ferruginous tomentum : leaves varying from oval to narrow lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, undulated on the margin, racemes axillary, loose, few flowered : fruit — .
Ceylon. — Colonel Walker.
Of this species there are two very distinct varieties, one with oval leaves ending in a short abrupt blunt acumen, and much undulated on the margin, the other with long, rather narrow lanceolate leaves, tapering to a fine point at each end, and very slightly undulated, but in both the tomentose, rusty coloured, square ramuli are conspicuous, in both the axils of the leaves are furnished with similarly clothed buds, and in both the branches are terminated by a larger oblong bud, like those of trees of temperate climates, indicating that this is a deciduous species from the higher parts of the island, a point however on which I am not informed.
6. C. angustifolium, (Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2-608.) " Twigs cylindrical. Leaves short petioled, lanceolate, with lengthened somewhat obtuse points, lucid, finely veined : flowers in axillary fascicles, pedicels with a cyathi- form apex." Roxb.
A native of Prince of Wales' Island said to be a tree of great size, and to afford the masts and spars known under the name of Peon.
7- C. spetabile, (Willd. and Choisy, in D. C.'s Prod. 1-562.) " Leaves elliptic, lanceolate, or rarely ovate-elliptic, usually acute at both ends : ramuli terete : flowers laxly, racemose : racemes axillary, peduncles 1-flowered, usually opposite.
Rumph. Amb. 2-72, is quoted as a figure of this plant, but I suspect without consulting the description from which I feel disposed to refer the Amboyna plant to the next section. These three are possibly the same species, but the characters of neither of the two last, as here quoted, are reconcilable with mine, nor do they sufficiently quadrate with each other, to admit of my uniting them without reference to specimens.
8. C. decipiens, (R. W.) Young shoots square, leaves from oval to obovate, emarginate, or sometimes obcordate, firm and coriaceous, racemes axillary, or from the scares of fallen leaves, few flowered, pedicels, rather short (about half an inch): sepals 4: petals 4 caducous : stamens numerous : fruit small, oval, some- what attenuated at both ends.
C. calaba, Lin. partly. Lind. Fl. Med. — C. apetalum, Willd. — C. spurium, Choisy, in D. C. Prod. 1-563, W. and A. Prod. 1-103.— Rheede, Hort. Mai. 4-39— not Burm. Thes. Zel.-60.
Willdenow's examination of this plant led him to the conclusion that it had no petals, hence he called it C. apetalum. Choisy on the other hand, but apparently without examining a flower for his own satisfaction, arrived by some means unknown to me (not having his memoir to consult) at the very unphilosophical conclusion that it had four petals and no calyx, and hence he called it C. spurium. Mr. Arnott and I afterwards re​examined flowers, and concluded both were wrong, and that the flower had 2 sepal s and 2 petals, and therefore adopted Choisy's name as the better of the two, though we thought both bad. I have now ascertained that Willdenow was the nearer right of the three, but that we are all wrong. The examination of flower-buds before anthesis invariably showed a perianth of eight parts, while flowers after anthesis as regularly showed one of four, and these the exterior calycine series, the interior or coroloide ones having disappeared — being then neither apetalous, nor spurious, from the absence of its calyx, I have judged it advisable to give a new name, and have selected one equally expressive of past and, possibly, present blunders, which will not, I conceive, require further alteration.
§ III. Leaves of the Perianth 4 — (sepals 2, petals 2 ?- or sepals 4, petals 0 ? ) Apoterium, Blume.
9. C. Moonii, (R.W.) Ramuli terete, leaves long, linear lanceolate, (8-12 inches long, 1½ broad) acute, floral ones about oval : flowers short pedicelled, forming numerous small umbellate panicles : panicles axillary, solitary, congested towards the ends of the branches, forming together large leapy terminal panicles : floral envelopes 4, the interior pair the larger : fruit — .
C. longifolium, Moon's MSS. not Willdenow.
Ceylon. — Eastern Korle, Moon.
This plant seems only to have been found by Mr. Moon — and the specimen before me is not such as to admit of a very perfect character being made from it. The very long lanceolate leaves of the older branches (the larger ones at least a foot in length) and the smaller almost oval floral ones, mixed with the large terminal, very many flowered, panicles, seem to indicate, that the tree when in full flower, must be one of surpassing beauty.
10. C. Burmanni, (R.W.) Young shoots, quadrangular, tomentose, leaves oval or slightly obovate, spathulate, sometimes sub-emarginate, panicles small, axillary, few flowered, pedicels opposite, usually longer than the peduncles, furnished at the base with a small deciduous bractea : perianth four-leaved, fruit small, globose, or very slightly oval.
C. calaba, Lin. partly. — Burm. Thes. Zeyl. tab. 60.
Ceylon.
Burman's figure I consider the typical form of this species and is a good representation of the plant so far as it goes, the fruit only being required to render it nearly perfect, but there is now before me another form which I am uncertain whether to consider a species or a variety. The forms of the leaves are nearly the same, but more decidedly oval and much smaller, the inflorescence also differs a tittle ; in both it is imperfectly umbellate panicled, but in this the flowers are much more numerous and the peduncles and pedicels shorter, the structure, however, of the flower is the same: the fruit I have not seen, and while it remains unknown I prefer considering this form a variety rather than a species.
j3 parvifolium, young shoots quadrangular, tomentose: leaves from oval to obovate, spathulate, tapering towards the base : peduncles axillary, several flowered, rarely one flowered, pedicels opposite, short, furnished at the base, with a minute deciduous bractea : perianth four- leaved: fruit — .
I have a second variety from Mergui intermediate between the Ceylon ones. It has the larger leaves and small fruit of the first with the short umbellate panicles ef the second; and has in addition the bracteae, which
in the Ceylon plants are very small, almost inconspicuous and early deciduous, as long as the pedicels and as permanent as the flowers.
7 bractiatum. Leaves oblong oval or obovate, very obtuse, often emarginatc at the apex: panicles much shorter than the leaves, axillary, pedicels short, almost concealed by the lanceolate, acute, pubescent bractea: fruit globose.
Mergui.— Griffith Herb. Nos. 439 and 595— Flower and fruit. Apoterium sulatri. ? Blume.
11. C. tetrapetala, (Roxb.) " Leaves short petioled, oval, lanceolate, very finely serrulate : umbels axillary : corolla 4-petaled." Roxb. Fl. Ind. 608.
Moluccas. — Of this species I know nothing beyond what is expressed in the above brief character. — It how- ever belongs to this section, as he considers all the leaves of the pereanth petals, and characterizes the genus as having an 8 petaled corolla.
Species imperfectly Jcnown.
12. C. surega, (Buch. Roxb.) " Leaves linear, oblong, flowers verticelled below the leaves." Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2-608.
13. C. ? lanceolarivm, (Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2-608.) " Twigs square, leaves lanceolar, obtuse, lucid, finely veined" (acute at the base, Blume) Roxb. 1. c. C. lanceolatum. Blume, Bijd. 1-217.
Muritias. — Neither Roxburgh nor Blume have seen the flowers of this plant, our knowledge of its genus is therefore only conjectural.
14. C. poly ant hum, Wall. L. 4844.
15. C ? marginatum, 4845.
16. C. relusum, 4846.
17. C. pulcherimum, 4848.
18. C. amcenum, 4849.
19. C. mesucefolium, 4850.
20. C. longifolium, 4851. " Certe non kujus generis." (Wall.)
Kayea— Wall. Sepals 4, petals 4. (scarcely longer than the calyx) Stamens numerous, filaments united at the base; anthers orbicular, cells curved round the edge of a broad circular connectivum. Ovary free, 1 -celled, with several (4) erect ovules attached to the base. Style one, stigma 4-lobed. Fruit—
A very large handsome tree, young shoots slightly 4-sided — leaves opposite, approximated towards the ends of the branches, coriaceous, linear, lanceolate, acute. Panicles axillary and terminal, many flowered, congested near the ends of the branches, and forming by their union large terminal panicles.
K.florilunda, Wall. PI. As. Rar. 3, page 5, tab. 210.
This genus is very nearly allied to Calophyllum, agreeing with it in habit, inflorescence, and generally, in the structure of the flowers. But in this the connectivum of the anther is dilated so that the pollen cells, in place of being appi'oximated and parallel to each other, are remote and bent, being curved round its edges : and the ovary, in place of one, has four erect ovules. The two together form very sufficient grounds for keeping the genera separate. Kayea in short, stands in the same relation to Calophyllum that Gyjiotroches does to Garcinia. The cells of the ovary of Gynotroches have 3 ovules, while they are solitary in Garcinia. The ovary of Kayea has 4 ovules, while in Calophyllum it is solitary.
One plant appertaining to this order, yet remains to be noticed, though rather imperfectly known, as it e v j. ​dently forms the type of a new genus, and, so far as. can be made out from male flowers only, clearly referable to- this suborder.
The most striking peculiarity I have observed in this is the aestivation of its calyx, which seems valvate, and not imbricated as in all the other genera of the order, and is the only point that gives rise to the slightest doubt as to the order to which it belongs. But this anomaly may be explained, I think, on the supposition that two of the four sepals, usually present in the order, abort, and that the remaining two, as happens with the exterior sepals of Kayea, have a valvate aestivation. Another circumstance that strikes me as peculiar, is, that the union between the sepals is so very intimate, as not to present any indication of the place where it occurs — hence the corolla and stamens before anthesis have the appearance of being inclosed in a bag, the more so, as the calyx, which is thin and membranacious,is when moistened, as pliable as wet bladder. During anthesis, it splits into two equal halves, displaying 4 petals and numerous stamens, but in the maie flowers, no trace of a pistil — the genus may be thus designated and defined.
Calysaccion, R. W.
Flowers unisexual. Male — Sepals (2 ?) intimately united (forming a closed sac) in aestivation. Petals 4, imbricating. Stamens very numerous, sub-monadelphous at the base, filaments short, slender : anthers oblong, 2-
celled: cells approximated parallel, opening lengthwise, connectivum slightly prolonged and truncated at the apex. Pistil altogether wanting. — Female.
Arborious, young shoots terete or slightly 4-sided, leaves glabrous, opposite, short petioled, linear lan- ceolate, obtuse, thick, hard and coriaceous, marked with a prominent costa, but without transverse parallel veins. Flowers numerous, congested on lateral tubercles, springing from the axils of fallen leaves (abortive branches) forming dense lateral capitulae, peduncles short, l-flowered.
C. longifolium, R. W.
Ma'abar near Bombay.
I am indebted to J. Graham, Esq. of Bombay, for my specimens of this plant, which he thought, might be the Calophyllum longifolium of Wallich's list mentioned above as " certe no/i hujus generis." As this conjecture seems not improbable, I have adopted that specific name. The genus so far as its affinities can be made out from the male flower only, is most nearly allied to Kayea, but wants the inner pair of sepals, and the outer ones are very different in texture, which, added to the difference of the anthers, and habit, throw almost insurmountable difficulties in the way of its being admitted into that family, and fully bear me out in considering it anew and distinct genus.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 44.
Hebradendron Cambogioides, (Graham.) Garcinia gutta, (R. W.) page 126.
A. Flowering branch, (female) — B, The same in fruit — natural size.
1. Female flower. — 2. Stigma removed. — 3. Male flower front view. — i. Side view of the same, the petals
removed to show the staminal column. — 5. Back view of the same. — 6. Column of stamens taken from a flow- er-bud. — 7. An anther before dehiscence — all more or less magnified. — 8-9. Full grown fruit cut transversely and vertically — natural size.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 45.
Calophyllum Walkerii, (R. W.) natural size. — 2. A and stigma, the ovary cut transversely. — 8. The same
detached flower — natural size. — 3. The same dissected, cut vertically.— 9. A fruit — natural size — all with the
showing each piece. — 4. An anther. — 5. Grains of pol- exceptions mentioned, more or less magnified. len. — 6. A diagram of the aestivation. — 7- Ovary, style,
P. S. — After this article was completed and the greater part of it printed, I received Lindley's " Flora Medica" a new work just issued from the press, and like all the other works of the accomnlished author forming a most valuable contribution to Botanical science; on this occasion in connection with medicine. In this work I find Dr. Lindley has added the weight of his authority, to that of those who adopt Murray's Stalagmitis in preference to Rox- burgh's Xanthochymus. This he does for the reasons adduced by Dr. Graham, namely, that Mr. Brown had examined Murray's specimen and ascertained that it consists of two plants, probably of two genera, one of which, in flower, is a Xanthochymus, the other, not in flower, supposed to be Graham's Hebradendron. Having expressed my belief that Xanthochymus does not belong to this natural order, and having no new species to add, nor other information to communicate res- pecting it, I did not intend to have noticed that genus in this place. But as I have said above that in my opinion Stain gmitis ought to be suppressed and Xanthochymus established in its room, I feel now called upon to state more fully my reasons for thinking so — I shall commence by extract- ing from the " Botanical Magazine Companion" the passage of Mr Brown's letter, quoted by Dr. Graham as his authority, for saying that the generic name Xanthochymus must be drop- ped in favour of Stalagmitis. " The plant sent pasted by Konig to Sir Joseph Banks, as one specimen, I have ascertained to be made up of two plants, and very probably of two genera. The union was concealed by sealing wax. The portion in flower, and which agrees in structure with Murray's account, is, I have no doubt, the Xanthochymus ovali/olius of Roxburgh.
​ Stalagmitis and Xanthochymus are therefore one genus, as Cambessides has already observed, giving the preference to the earlier name of Murray. This, however, forms but a small part of the whole specimen, the larger portion being, I am inclined to think, the same with your plant, of which I have seen, and I believe still possess, the specimen you sent to Don.* The structure, however, of this greater portion cannot be ascertained from the few very young flower-buds belonging to it. It approaches also very closely, in its leaves especially, to that specimen in Hermann's herbarium, which may be considered as the type of Linnaeus' Cambogia gutta. A loose fruit, pasted on the sheet with Konig's plant, probably belongs to the larger portion, and resembles " Geertner's Morella."
So far all appears clearly in favour of Stalagmitis, and had Murray in drawing up his char- acter rigidly confined himself to the description of the flowers before him, I should at once have adopted his name in preference to Roxburgh's. 'But on turning to his character, as given in Schreber's genera plantarum, we find a 4-leaved calyx, a 4-petaled corolla, and a 4-lobed stigma, combined with pentadelphous stamens, 3-seeded berries, the stigmas sometimes trifid : stamina not always polyadelphous ? &c. From this very unusual combination of quinary and quaternary forms I am led to infer that the character is only partly derived from the specimen, and partly, if not principally from notes communicated by Konig, who, it appears, from the fact of his having combined, on the supposition that they were the same plant, two distinct species, was not aware of the difference, and misled Murray by communicating written characters of a Garcinia, and flowers of another plant, and between the two, there has resulted a set of characters not likely to be often found combined in the same species and still less frequently in one small specimen, Roxburgh on the other hand briefly and clearly defines a genus of plants well known to him, and extensively distributed over India, about which he has scarcely left room for a mistake. If further proof be wanted in support of the opinion I have advanced that this is a hybrid genus, I adduce Cambessides, whose authority is quoted for the identity of Stalag- mitis and Xanthochymus. He has strictly followed Murray, adopted all the contradictions of his character and constituted a genus embodying, first, Roxburgh's genus Xanthochymus, next, Petit Thours' Brindonia, evidently identical with Garcinia, then Loureiro's Oxycarpus, also Garcinia, and lastly, (if I am not misled by Mr. George Don, whom I am obliged for want of Cambessides' own memoir to follow) nearly the whole of Roxburgh's species of Gar- cinia, as if Roxburgh was so bad a Botanist as not to be able, with growing plants before him, to distinguish between two genera so very distinct as Garcinia and his own Xanthochymus. In a paper which I published in the Madras Journal of Science for October 1836, I showed from the internal evidence afforded by the two sets of characters that Murray's Stalagmitis and Roxburgh's Xanthochymus were partly identical, and attributed the discrepancies to defects of Murray's solitary specimen, a view, which Mr. Brown has shown to be only partly right by proving that they in some measure originated in the imperfect observation of Konig, who supplied Murray with the materials for his genus.
Having now adduced what I esteem conclusive evidence in support of the opinion I advanced above, that Murray's genus is spurious, and that of Cambessides founded on it, is most unnatural, as associating species that never can combine generically : while Roxburgh's, is a strictly natural genus including several nearly allied species, and moreover, probably referable to a natural order different from more than half of the species referred to it under the name of Stalagmitis by Cambessides, I consider myself fully justified in continuing to adopt the generic name Xanthochymus (even though opposed by the highest Botanical authorities) until careful examination of the original specimen, with reference to the elucidation of the discrepancies I have indicated, shall have proved, that such actually exist in that specimen. If they do exist, then the fault is not Murray's and his name must of right be adopted with an amended charac- ter, excluding the numerous species of Garcinia brought under it by Cambessides : if they do saot, Roxburgh's genus, which as it now stands is strictly natural, claims the preference.
GUTTIFERÆ HEBRADENDRON CAMBOGIOIDES (Graham)
GUTTIFERÆ CALOPHYLLUM WALKERII (R.W.)