542 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



be the same, with the Arabic article prefixed) ; yet Linnreus, hav- 

 ing received an Indigofera somewhat resembling the tinctoria, 

 gave it the name of Anil; and, in endeavouring to establish spe- 

 cific characters between this and the tinctoria, Willdenow has pro- 

 duced such as contain little or no difference, the only real dis- 

 crepancy being, that the one is said to have three pair of leaflets 

 and the other four. This is such a difference as no one can rely 

 upon to establish species, among plants with which the number 

 of leaflets in the same individuals is so liable to vary. The one 

 is also said to have leaves pubescent below, while the other has 

 them smooth on both sides : but this depends entirely on the age 

 of the leaf: and on the whole, on examining the Indigo plant 

 carefully, I could not say whether it was the I, Anil or J. tinc- 

 toria of Willdenow ; I only judge it to be the latter from the 

 synonyma, which clearly indicate it to be that from which the 

 drug is prepared, while no hint is given of the Anil being applied 

 to this purpose. 



In the Encyclopedic (iii. 244.) matters become worse and worse ; 

 the Anil is the true and best Indigo plant, and the Indicum of 

 Rumphius, deriving its very name from India, and known as an 

 Indian production from the most remote antiquity, is removed 

 on Plukenet's authority to America. The distinction, too, into 

 an Indigo plant with crooked legumes, and one with straight 

 ones, which had been taken up by Plukenet, is repeated in the 

 Encyclopedic ; and the latter, in order to distinguish it from the 

 proper American dye, is called Indigofera indica, an unseemly 

 pleonasm. It is indeed admitted, that a small quantity of indif- 

 ferent Indigo may be procured from this I. indica; and the 

 compilers seem to think that until the time of Rumphius the true 

 Indicum was not known ; as the synonyma of the Bauhins and 

 other older writers, referring to the Indigo plant, are given to 

 the 1. indica, which, along with the Ameri of Rheede, includes 



the 



