246 Dr. Francis Hamixron’s Commentary 
Plukenet (Mant. 22. t. 339. f.1.). This, as I have said, was quoted by Lin- 
nsus for the Noeli Tali, from which it differs in having five stamina. It is, 
therefore, probably the plant which Linnzeus actually described in the Flora 
Zeylanica (357., et Nov. Gen. ad calcem p. 14.). This plant of Plukenet was 
entirely left out by M. Lamarck ; but by M. Poiret it is considered as a variety 
(8.) of the Antidesma pubescens (Enc. Méth. Suppl. i. 402.), an opinion adopted 
by Willdenow (Sp. Pl. iv. 763.), although both quote Plukenet erroneously, 
the one quoting the Phytographia, and the other the 4maltheum, while the 
plant is actually described in the Mantissa. I doubt very much, however, 
whether the plant of Plukenet, which in the Hindwi dialect is called Matha- 
sura, be sufficiently distinct from what I consider as the 4. paniculata (Willd. 
Sp. Pl. iv. 764.; Enc. Méth. Suppl. i. 402.; Hort. Kew. v. 384.; Hort. Beng. 
72.), the male of which by the Bengalese is called Amri, and the female Abu- 
tenga. Specimens of both the Mathasura and the Amri or Abutenga have 
been given to the library at the India House; and I shall here describe the 
latter, to show how well it agrees with the figure in Plukenet. 
Arbuscula ramulis teretibus pubescentibus. Folia austera, alterna, ovalia, 
utrinque obtusa, basi aliquando retuso subcordata, integerrima, costata, 
venis reticulata, utrinque pubescentia. Petiolus brevissimus, pubescens. 
Stipule gemine, laterales, caducze, lineares, acutæ, petiolo longiores. 
Flores diceci, herbacei. Masc. Pedunculi communes axillares vel terminales, 
solitarii, brevissimi, axillari seepius bifido, terminali trifido. Spica fili- 
formes, folio longiores. Flores sparsi. . 
Calyx minimus, hirsutus, 4—6-partitus. Glandule in calycis fundo laciniis 
numero aequales, hirsute, crassee, minimae. Filamenta totidem glandulis 
alterna, longissima. Anthere bilobz, apice dehiscentes. Rudimentum 
germinis in calycis fundo. 
Fem. Racemi axillares simplices, vel terminales ramosi, folio breviores, erecti, 
pubescentes. Pedicelli sparsi, solitarii, uniflori, brevissimi. Bractea ad 
pedicelli basin minuta. 
Calyx concavus, ore obsolete quinquedentato minimus. Germen superum, 
ovatum, compressum. Stylus vix ullus. Stigmata (4—6) sepius quinque, 
acuta, simplicia. 
