256 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



Zeylanka, and quotes as synonymous the Ricinoides of his father, 

 the Granum Moluccum, and the Cadel Avanacii. 



M. Lamarck {Enc. Meth. ii. 208.) continues the same syno- 

 nyma and specific character, and seems to have described from 

 specimens in the herbarium of Jussieu ; for he mentions several 

 circumstances not previously noticed by the authors I have enu- 

 merated. He calls it a tree of a middling size. He gives five 

 divisions to the calyx, five petals, and about sixteen stamina. He 

 mentions that the young leaves are dotted with hairs disposed in 

 form of a star ; and he takes no notice of the cells of the capsule 

 being much larger than the seeds. He mentions its being a cul- 

 tivated plant, of which I find no traces in former authors. The 

 figure of the fruit which he gives (III. Gen. t. 790./. 2.) repre- 

 sents it shaped like that of the Cadel Avanacu, and having the 

 seeds as large as the cavities. 



Willdenow {Sp. PL iv. 543.) continues the synonyma, but adds 

 a new specific character, omitting the caulis arboreus and adding 

 racemus terminalis. If he had attended to what Burman stated, 

 he might have seen that this last was not to be depended on ; for, 

 although the raceme in the plant of Burman appears at first 

 terminal, yet two young shoots, proceeding from its base, soon 

 leave it " in divaricatione caulis," as Linnaeus has it. His spe- 

 cimens, however, were probably in a young state, and had " ra- 

 cemos facie terminales," as he described. He says nothing to 

 extricate us from the doubts respecting the identity of the plants 

 described by Rheede, Burman and Rumphius. 



In the Hortus Kewensis (v. 327.) Rheede alone is quoted ; yet 

 the plant was sent to the garden by Dr. Roxburgh, whose Croton 

 Tiglimn is a large tree {Hort. Beng. 69-) called Jamalgota in the 

 language of the vicinity. The specimen of this, which I have 

 given to the collection of the East India Company, has no fruit ; 

 but it has 15 stamina, a circumstance that deserves particular 

 attention. 



Gaertner 



