asserted, (see Rexs’s Cyclopedia, art. Columbo,) that the 
root was introduced from Columbo in Ceylon, to the con- 
tinent of India, and thence derived its name. If such were 
the case, Ceylon was not considered, by the learned in 
India, to be the native country of this plant ; for the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, in the sixth vol. of their Transactions, 
published at the commencement of the present century, 
gave a “ list of such Oriental subjects as required further 
illustration ;” and amongst them particularly invited com- 
munications respecting the Columbo Plant, with a view to 
ascertain from what country the root so called was originally 
procured, and to obtain a botanical description and figure. 
Commerson, indeed, whilst residing in the Isle of France, 
gathered there, in the garden of M. Potvre,* about the year 
1770, some flowering specimens of a plant which came to 
France with the rest of that celebrated botanist’s collec- 
tion, and were marked in his Herbarium “ Calumbo in 
Indits vocatur ;’’ and these were first described by La- 
MARCK, under the name of MeEnispermum palmatum. 
That author further observes: “fl paroit qu’elle est ori- 
ginaire de l’Inde,”’ and “ C’est peut-étre de ce Menisperme 
qu’on obtient cette racine qu’on nous rapporte de l’Inde 
sous le nom de racine de Calumbo ou Columbo, en mor- 
ceaux jaunatres, d’une saveur amére.” From no other 
source do we derive any indication of the plant being known 
in a living-state about that period ; and that in the Isle of 
France probably soon perished. mat : 
About eight or ten years after the invitation was given 
on the part of the Asiatic Society, for information respect- 
ing the Columbo plant, (namely, in the tenth volume of the 
Asiatic Researches, Svo. edition, published in London, 
1811,) we find a figure and description of the male plant, 
and some important contributions to its history, by Dr. 
Anprew Berry, Member of the Medical Board of Fort 
St. George. From that gentleman we learn that this plant 
IS never cultivated in its native country, but that it grows 
naturally and in abundance in the thick forests that are 
said to cover the shores about Oibo and Mozambique, on 
the East coast of Africa, and inland for about fifteen or 
twenty miles. The roots are dug up in the month of 
March, the dry season, or when the natives are not em- 
ployed in agriculture. 'The main stock of the root is not 
removed, but offsets from the base are taken, and those of 
sufficient 
ibang g. : jsve 
* See Lamarcn’s Cyel. v. 4. p. 99. 
