on the Hortus Malabaricus, Part IV. 149 
Méth. i. 348.; Willd. Sp. Pl. iv.967.; Hort. Kew. v. 441.). I must here cau- 
tion the young botanist against relying on the specific character given by these 
authors, however respectable. The leaves of the Ada maram, as well as of the 
Catappa domestica, have in general edges quite entire; and the real difference 
between them consists in the former being pubescent, and the latter smooth. 
Panem Parsa, seu Panam Parca, p. 9. tab. 5. 
This tree, according to Commeline, was well known to John Bauhin, al- 
though it is alleged that his brother mistook its fruit for that of a Palm. 
Plukenet called it Nux Myristica spuria (Alm. 265.); and the elder Bur- 
man, copying Herman, called it Nux Myristica, oblonga, Malabarica (Thes. 
Zeyl. 172.). Under the name of Myristica fructu inodoro, Linnzeus (FI. Zeyl. 
588.) placed it among his Annihilatw, the explanation of which (“sunt planta- 
rum zeylonensium nomina, que soni preetereaque nihil," seems very little 
applicable to a plant, the female of which has been described and figured 
excellently by Rheede. As, however, this author did not mention the male, 
Linnzeus, with the sexual system, was no doubt at a loss. 
Among the more recent botanists this tree was first taken up by Thunberg 
(anno 1782), who called it Myristica tomentosa. M. Lamarck, overlooking 
this, or uncertain of what plant Thunberg meant, called it Myristica malaba- 
rica (Enc. Méth. iv. 388.), and distinguished it from the Nux Myristica Mas 
of Rumphius, with which Burman in his observation (Herb. Amb. ii. 25.) had 
confounded it. Rumphius himself, although he admitted a great similarity, 
pointed out several differences, which should have prevented Burman's mis- 
take, especially as the latter had probably mentioned the Nua Myristica 
Mas of Rumphius under Herman's name, Nur Zeylanica, Moschate rotunde 
similis, oblonga (Thes. Zeyl. 172.), which is probably the M. Philippensis of 
M. Lamarck. | 
Whether or not Geertner could have seen. M. Lamarck's account of this 
tree, first published in the Memoirs of the French Academy, I know not; 
but in the same year (1788), overlooking also the account of Thunberg, he 
described the fruit of the Panem Palca by the name of M. dactyloides (De 
Sem. i. 195. t. 41. f. 2.. Willdenow (Sp. Pl. iv. 870.) restored Thunberg's 
name, M. tomentosa; but falls into Burman's error in considering the Nur 
x 2 
