234 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



as different from the Hummatu by Plukenet, who calls it Stra- 

 monia Mgyptiaca fatidix, semine pallido, pomo spinoso rot undo, Jlore 

 violaceo simplice, duplice, tripticeve {Aim. 358.). We have thus 

 two Indian and an Egyptian Stramonium so nearly allied to each 

 other, if they be really distinct, that they can with difficulty be 

 distinguished ; for nothing that Plukenet says is sufficient for 

 this purpose, if we set aside the colour of the flower. 



The elder Burman under the name Stramonium zeylanicum 

 {Thes. Zeyl. 2:21.) seems to mean only the second variety of the 

 Indian kind with a purple flower ; although he mentions among 

 the synonyma the three Hummatus of Rheede, and the three 

 kinds of Stramonia indica described by Rumphius {Herb. Amb. 

 V. 242.), which by many are considered as different from those of 

 Rheede. 



Linnaeus {Fl. Zeyl. 86.) disapproved of the separation made 

 by Plukenet on account of the colour of the flower, and along 

 with the Hummatu, which has a white flower, joined the Datura 

 zeylanica violacea of Hermann or Stramoniiim zeylanicum of Bur- 

 man, calling his plant Datura pomis nutantibus globosis. 



As, however, the above-mentioned character would have in- 

 cluded also the Nux^ Metella of the Arabs, which he did not 

 intend, Linnaeus in the first edition of the Species Plantarum, 

 copied by the younger Burman {Fl. Ind. 53.) from among the 

 synonyma above mentioned, formed two species. The Hum- 

 matu with its synonyma, adding the Dutra alba of Rumphius 

 {Herb. Amb. v. 242. t. 87. /• 1-), he perversely called Datura 

 Melel, while the true Egyptian Metel of the Arabs, or Nux 

 Metella of the early botanists, he called D.fastuosa. In itself 

 this is a proper enough name, because the flower is often double 

 or triple, and then becomes very showy ; but if any species were 

 to be called Metel, that certainly should have the name, which 

 is so called in the country where it grows spontaneously. But 



further, 



