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XXIII. A Commentary on the Hortus Malabaricus, Part J. 

 By Francis HamilUn, M.D. F.R.S. and L>S. 



Read May I, 1821. 



TenCxA, p. 1. Jig. 1 — 4. 

 Cocos nucifera of Willdenow. 



The resin mentioned by Syen in the notes, as produced by this 

 palm in Ceylon, seems doubtful. I never heard of such ; and 

 suspect that what he saw was the produce of some other tree, 

 perhaps of the Sterculia Balanghas, which in Malabar is called 

 mountain coco-nut. The place of growth assigned to this tree 

 by Willdenow is improper. It should have been, " Habitat 

 ubique in maritimis inter tropicos praesertim arenosis." 



Caunga, p. 9- fig* 5 — 8. 

 Areca Catechu of Willdenow. 



The figure of Plukenet (Phyt. t. 309. /. 4.), quoted for this 

 plant, and no doubt intended by him to represent it, seems to 

 me to have been taken from some other, which had been sent to 

 him by mistake. It evidently represents a young palm, as newly 

 shot up from the ground, but seems rather a Phcenix or Elate 

 than an Areca. 



The name Areca has probably been taken from Garzia ab 

 Horto, who, according to the commentator, says that the nut, 

 not only in Malabar but in other places, is by people of rank 



called 



