234 Dr. Francis HAMILTON'S Commentary 
as different from the Hummatu by Plukenet, who calls it Stra- 
monia /Egyptiaca fetida, semine pallido, pomo spinoso rotundo, flore 
violaceo simplice, duplice, tripliceve (Alm. 358.). We have thus 
two Indian and an Egyptian Stramonium so nearly allied to each 
other, if they be really distinct, that they can with difficulty be 
distinguished ; for nothing that Plukenet says is sufficient for 
this purpose, if we set aside the colour of the flower. 
The elder Burman under the name: Stramonium zeylanicum 
(Thes. Zeyl. 221.) seems to mean only the second variety of the 
Indian kind with a purple flower ; although he mentions among 
the synonyma the three Hummatus of Rheede, and the three 
kinds of Stramonia indica described by Rumphius (Herb. Amb. 
v. 242.), which by many are considered as different from those of 
Rheede. | | 
Linnæus (Fl. Zeyl. 86.) disapproved of the separation made 
by Plukenet on account of the colour of the flower, and along 
with the Hummatu, which has a white flower, joined the Datura 
zeylanica violacea of Hermann or Stramonium zeylanicum of Bur- 
man, calling his plant Datura pomis nutantibus globosis. 
As, however, the above-mentioned character would have in- 
cluded also the Nux Metella of the Arabs, which he did not 
intend, Linnæus in the first edition of the Species Plantarum, 
copied by the younger Burman (Fl. Ind. 53.) from among the 
synonyma above mentioned, formed two species. The Hum- 
matu with its synonyma, adding the Dutra alba of Rumphius 
( Herb. Amb. v. 949. t. 87. f. 1.), he perversely called Datura 
Metel, while the true Egyptian Metel of the Arabs, or Nux 
Metella of the early botanists, he cálled D. fastuosa. In itself 
this is a proper enough name, because the flower is often double 
or triple, and then becomes very showy ; but if any species were 
to be called Metel, that certainly should have the name, which 
is so called in the country where it grows spontaneously. But 
further, 
