188 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentartj 



the Vitex trifolia, under which name I have sent the plant com- 

 mon in India to the Company's collection. 



ScHETTi, p. 17. Jig. 13. 



Commeline considered this plant as unknown to botanists, 

 until described by Rheede : but it was soon adopted into the 

 system by Breynius, Hermann, and Plukenet,who joined Hermann 

 in calling it Jasmhmm indicum lauri folio inodorum, nmbellatum, 

 floribus coccineis (/i/m. I96. Pfiyt. t. 5Q. f.2.). The elder Bur- 

 man {Thes. Zeyl. 125.) to these adds synonyma from Ray and 

 the Herbarium Amboinense, then unpublished; but he adds a 

 note, that deserves great attention : " Si vero meam plantam ab 

 Hermann© ipso in Zeylona quondam coUectam, et ad Breynium 

 etiam ab ipso transmissam, examinem, et cum H. Malab. figura 

 et descriptione conferam, in quibusdam difFerre videtur. Nostrae 

 enim folia sunt multo longiora, angustiora, acutiora ; frequen- 

 tiora etiam multo ad surculos proveniunt, interpositis plurimis 

 minoribus foliolis, quaj accuratissime omnia in tabula nostra 

 (57.) insculpi curavi. Flores Schetti H. Malab. dicuntur in- 

 carnati, posteaque dilutiores, flavescentes, cum nostrae plantae 

 sunt intentissime holoserici, rubri." Now this difference be- 

 tween the Schetti and the plant of Burman, Hermann, and Brey- 

 nius has not been sufficiently attended to by botanists, although 

 I have little doubt that the plants of Rheede and Burman are 

 specifically different. While thus we join the synonyma of 

 Hermann and Breynius to the plant of Burman, we may leave 

 those of Commeline and Plukenet to the plant of Rheede ; only 

 it must be remarked, that Burman quotes five different names 

 from Hermann, three from the Museum Zeylanicum, one from his 

 Paradisi Batavi Prodromtis, and one from his Herbarium. 

 "Whether or not, under these different names, Hermann meant to 



denote 



