on t/te Hortus Malabaricus, Part I. 477 



Beng. 19, note 1), that they are mere varieties. In fact, he was so 

 puzzled by circumstances, that he quotes the Uort us Malabaricus 

 for neither plant : for the fruit-bearing tree in figure 12 has the 

 male spathes deciduous, while in figure 13 they are represented 

 as persistent. As these two species should be united, and as the 

 names sapient um and paradisiaca are liable to some objections, 

 the Latin name Pala, used by Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xii. sect, xii.), 

 should be revived ; for there can be no doubt that this is the 

 Arbor Pa la ; and Pliny's example shows the urbanity (to use the 

 Roman phrase) of adopting into botanical Latin the foreion 

 names of plants ; for the word Pala is no doubt the same with the 

 Bala of Kaerulu or Malabar. How much better are such names 

 than the monstrous would-be Greek words ending in pogon,carpos, 

 lobus and the like, with which we are now overwhelmed ! Rheede 

 was indeed very unfortunate in his choice of names, selecting in 

 general the most barbarous appellations of the vulgar dialect in 

 preference to the polished words of the Sanscrita. But in nu- 

 merous instances Rumphius has shown how even the most un- 

 couth words may be polished ; and it is much to be regretted, 

 that the taste of Linnaeus was suited to approve most of Rheede's 

 selection. 



Amba Paia, p. 21. Jig. 15, 1. 



Carica Papaya, mas auctorum. 



Papaia Maram, p. 23. fig. 15, 2. 

 Carica Papaia, famina. 



Carica, being the Latin name for a kind of fig, seems to have 

 been ill applied to this genus. 



Every thing that I have seen induces me to believe, with 

 Rumphius and Dr. Roxburgh, that this tree is an exotic in 

 India. Few plants have less affinity to others than this ; so that 



vol. xiii. 3 q it 





