148 Dr. Francis Hamitton’s Commentary 
or Saros. Rheede says that it grows in the woods of Malabar; but so far as 
I have observed, it seemed to me to have been always planted, and reared with 
care in the neighbourhood of villages or in gardens ; and I suspect that it has 
been introduced from the great Oceanic Archipelago, where it would seem to 
be a spontaneous production, being, I suppose, the Catappa silvestris of Rum- 
phius (see my Commentary on Herb. Amb. i. 175.). Both Ada and Saros, 
however, may be Malabar words peculiar to this plant, which would seem to 
imply its being indigenous ; but Jibe, the name given to it by the Brahmans in 
Malabar, is also peculiar to that country; nor does there seem to be any 
Sanscrita name for this plant, which would imply its being an exotic lately 
introduced. At any rate, that it is so in the North of India I have no doubt, 
because in the vulgar dialects spoken there it is called Budam, or the Almond- 
tree, on account of its kernels being like those of the almond. ^ This, although 
a very slight affinity, seems to have at first satisfied Nieuhof, Ray and Pluke- 
net, who called the tree Amygdalus indica (Alm. 28.). Afterwards, indeed, 
on account of an absurd resemblance which he imagined to exist between its 
fruit and that of his Prunifera Fago similis arbor Gummi Elemi fundens, figura 
et magnitudine Olive ex Insula Barbadensi (Alm. 306; Phyt. t. 217. f. 4), 
the last-mentioned author considered the 4da maram as nearly allied to this 
plant (Mant. 156.), which, although by no means the Amyris Elemifera of 
modern botanists, is certainly not the 4da maram; nor, if it produces Gum 
Elemi, is it likely to be even of the same natural order, none of the Combre- 
tacee producing odorous resins. 
The elder Burman probably mentioned this tree under the following name, 
Arbor indica, amara, nucleis Amygdali facie, Katappas Lusitanis, Samandara 
zeylonensibus, as I shall endeavour to show when I treat of the Hagam (Hort. 
Malab. vi. 37.). 
Rumphius (Herb. Amb. i. 175.) described two kindred species, the Catappa 
domestica and silvestris ; and in the Appendix (176.) he notices the strong affinity 
which these have to the dda maram, without mentioning to which of his kinds 
it is nearest. I have already stated that I think it is his C. silvestris. It was 
not introduced into the modern system until Linnzeus published the Mantissa, 
in which he improperly called it Terminalia Catappa (see my Commentary on 
the Herb. Amb. i. 175.), a name retained by more modern botanists (Enc. 
we 
