306 Dr. Francis HaurLTON's Commentary 
The elder Burman quotes the Ponnam Tagera for his Senna 
vigintifolia siliquis teretibus (Thes. Zeyl. 213.) ; but the figure 
which he gives (¢. 98.) represents the legumina very differently 
from the figure of Rheede, and such as I have never seen ; espe- 
cially as they would seem to be hairy, which we may conclude is 
actually the case, as he quotes the SopAera congener planta, sili- 
qua compressis hirsutis, seminibus atris lueidis floribus aureis of 
Hermann. But the legumina of the Ponnam Tagera are smooth; 
and I therefore suspect that it is not the plant which Burman 
describes, especially as it very rarely has near ten pair of leaf- 
lets. Burman further considers, that Plukenet was mistaken in 
considering the Indian Sophera as the same species with the 
Sophera of Egypt described by Alpinus, J. Bauhin and Parkin- 
son; and he quotes several authorities supporting his opinion, 
which I conclude is right. 
When Burman composed his Thesaurus Zeylanicus, he consi- 
dered the Ponnam Tagera as the same with the Flos flavus of the 
Herbarium Amboinense (iv. 63. t. 63.) ; but of this error he became 
sensible by the time that he published this great work of Rum- 
phius, who merely says that the plants are of the same genus ; and 
it is now admitted, as pointed out by Burman, that Rumphius 
described the Ponnam Tagera by the name of Galinaria acutifolia 
(Herb. Amb. v. 283. t. 97. f. 1.), although Rumphius himself, 
owing probably to his blindness, had been led to suppose that 
his Galinaria acutifolia was the Tagera of Rheede. 
Linnæus, in forming the Ponnam Tagera into a species with the 
Senna vigintifolia of Burman (Fl. Zeyl. 150.), seems to have 
adopted the opinion of Burman, that this was not the Sophera of . 
Egypt, as he quotes no author that could be supposed to de- 
scribe the African species; but unless Burman describes a plant 
different from the Ponnam Tagera, and unless Linnæus meant to 
describe this plant of Burman, he gives a faulty specific cha- 
racter 
