BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 349 
x 
The statement of Mr. Lewis is then followed by an interesting narra- 
tion, from the pen of Dr. Falconer, of all that had been done towards a 
true knowledge of the Rice-paper plant to the date of that communication 
in Calcutta, viz. July, 1852. He testifies to the exact resemblance in 
colour and texture of the pith of the “ Zaccada” with the Rice-paper ; 
but observes that the largest ** Zaecada” pith sent by Mr. Lewis is only 
zs of an inch in diameter. He further remarks that the Scævola 
Taccada and its applications were most fully described, before 1690, 
by Rumphius, who it is clear too considers the “ Zaccada " (his Buglos- 
sum littoreum, or Moral of Amboyna) to be the same as the Rice-paper 
of the Chinese ; for he says, “ In China it (the Taccada) is called Tscho, 
although it does not grow in China Proper, but on the northern coast 
of Formosa, near Kelang,” the locality of our Araliaceous plant; ‘ but 
` the Chinese kind shows much wood, and yields but very little pith.” 
From the latter expression, at variance with what Dr. Falconer con- 
siders the fact, as well as from the great difficulty there must have 
been at the time of Rumphius in procuring the Formosa plant, I 
should infer that Rumphius (and Mr. Lewis too) draws his conclusions - 
of the identity of the “ Taccada " of the Malay Archipelago with the 
Rice-paper plant of Formosa, from the similarity of the pith, and of 
the uses made of it by the Malays and by the Chinese, in the same 
way and for the same reason as the Shola of India (Æschynomene palu- 
dosa) was long considered to be indentical with Rice-paper. It may be, 
as Dr. Falconer thinks probable, that Formosa produces two pith-yield- 
ing plants; the one being the “ Zaccada,” as stated by Rumphius, the 
other the Rice-paper (Araliaceous) plant; but we have no evidence of 
this whatever. 
Thus much we know, that within the tropies, in the Malay Archi- 
pelago, the beautiful but comparatively slender * pith of the ** Taccada”’ 
(Scævola Taccada) is much employed in making artificial flowers, ete., 
by the natives, and that the Chinese employ the stout pith of a plant, 
similar in texture, (so much so, that Dr. Falconer, who has examined 
the two microscopically, pronounces them * nearly undistinguishable,”) 
from an extra-tropical region, viz. the northern part of the island of 
‘Formosa, for like purposes and for making paper. This latter we have, 
* The lar; ith of “ Taccada ” known to Dr. Falconer, as above stated, is seven- 
tenths of PAM diameter (and he confirms the statement of Rumphius, that the 
older and thicker the stem the more slender the pith), while that of the Chinese 
Rice-paper is 24 inches in diameter. 
