184 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



phius justly remarks (Herb. Amb. iv. 48.) " Dicimus, maximam 

 foliorum partem non serratam esse et semper ternatam ; si vero 

 hie fruticulus saepius detruncetur, in surculis folia non tantum 

 hinc inde sunt solitaria, sed etiam ad oras parum serrata, seu 

 profunde dentata, ut una eademque habeatur planta cum ilia, 

 quae in aliis Indiae locis crescit, et a Portugallicis scriptoribus 

 describitur folia gerere serrata." 



Although Plukenet was thus unfortunate in selecting a specific 

 distinction, he was perfectly right in following C. Bauhin, and 

 placing the Negundos in the same genus with the Vitex or Agnus 

 castas, notwithstanding an attempt made in the Medical Garden 

 of Amsterdam to class it with some African plants related to the 

 genus Rhus (Mant. l6l.). What is of more importance, he gives 

 us a figure of the Klegundo mas (Phyt. t. 206. /. 5.), which 

 strongly resembles the Cara Nosi. 



The elder Burman, without materially altering the synonyma, 

 changed the specific distinction, calling the Cara Nosi Vitex tri- 

 folia, Indica, odora, hortensis, jioribus caruleis, racemosis ; and 

 the BemNosiVitex trifolia, odorata, sylvestris, Indica, {Thes. Zeyl. 

 229.) ; where the real distinction is, that the one plant is culti- 

 vated, and the other wild. 



Notwithstanding the example of C. Bauhin, Plukenet, and 

 Burman, Linnaeus, when he published the Flora Zeylanica 

 (p. 413, 414.), considered the genus of these plants as doubtful; 

 but mentioned them among the obscurce under the names given 

 by Burman, with the synonyma of preceding authors taken from 

 the same source : so that in this work the only distinction is that 

 the one plant is wild and the other cultivated. 



Rumphius (Herb. Amb. iv. 48, 50.), in imitation of other bo- 

 tanists, describes two species, the Lagondium vulgare, and lito- 

 reum; the first analogous to the planta famina, minor, integer- 

 rima, et hortensis ; and the second analogous to the planta mas, 



major. 



