552 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



the Lanrus Cassia is the third species of Plukenet, or Malaba- 

 thrum angustifolium. We have thus two species of Malabathrum, 

 in my opinion a corruption, by rejecting the first syllable of Ta- 

 malapatrum, that is, the Tamala leaf : and I shall have occasion 

 to show, that in the north of India we have some more varieties, 

 the name of the tree there being Tej, Taj, or Twac, which gives 

 us Tej pair a, &c. for the leaves : for in the south the name of 

 every thing great or good changes the final a of the north into urn. 



But to return to the Carua : Dr. Roxburgh (Hort. Beng. 30.) 

 thought that his narrow-leaved Cinnamon was the Cinnamomum 

 perpetuo florens, folio tenuiore, acuto of Burman (Thes. Zeyl. 63. 

 t. 28) ; but, according to Burman, this is not the Carua, but the 

 Katou Kama of the Hortus Malabaricus (v. £.53.) ; and from the 

 description of both authors, it is evident that this plant is not a 

 Laurus, having a monopetalous corolla and five stamens. 



Linnaeus in the Flora Zeylanica (145.) gave the synonyma of 

 the Laurus Cinnamomum very correct : but in treating of the 

 Laurus Cassia, that is, the Cassia malabarica, which I have no 

 doubt is the Carua, he seems to me to have fallen into two errors ; 

 first, in quoting as synonymous Burman's tab. 28., which is not 

 the Carua, but the Katou Kama ; and secondly, in quoting the 

 Cassia cinnamomea myrrhce odoi^e, folio trinervi subtus ccesio, a 

 fourth species of Plukenet (Aim. 89.), of which I know nothing 

 but that it is quoted by Burman for the plant represented in his 

 tab. 28., while Plukenet, as I have already mentioned, quotes 

 the Carua for his second species. 



The Carua is a tree very common in the province of Malabar, 

 and its bark is exported from thence in considerable quantity, 

 now indeed chiefly to the Muhammedan countries, Christians 

 receiving a better drug from China. This latter is no doubt the 

 produce of a different tree (probably the Laurus Cubeba of Lou- 

 reiro), the buds or young fruit of which are an article of com- 

 merce : 



