on the Horius Malabaricus, Fart II. - 275 



Plukenet's specific character seem clearly to imply a twining 

 plant, while the Batti Schorigenam is evidently erect, " frutex 

 ex genere Urticarum altitudine trium pedum." 

 , The elder Burman {Thes.Zeyl. 231. t. 110./. 1.) without any 

 discrimination quotes the Batti Schorigenam, both plants of 

 Plukenet, and the Pino of Brazil, for his Urtica pilulifcra, foUis 

 majoribus longissimin pedicidis, minoribus brevibus pediculis do- 

 natis. I have little doubt that so far as relates to the Batti 

 Schorigenam he is right, his figure being good, and his descrip- 

 tion of the stem {caulis bipedalis) showing it to be an erect 

 plant, and not a climber. With respect, however, to several of 

 the other synonyma that he quotes, I am doubtful ; his admission 

 of the Brasilian Fiiio and of the plants of Plukenet rendering his 

 accuracy suspicious. The Ceylonese name according to Burman 

 is Katschambali ; and if he is right in this, and quotes accurately 

 the Urtica racemosa, piluUfera tricoccos of Hermann, then it is 

 not an Urtica, but a Tragia or Acalypha. 



Linnaeus {Fl. Zeyl. 159.) leads us into greater diflflculties, 

 uniting the Batti Schorigenam not only with the Lupulo vidgari 

 similis of Plukenet, and the Fino of Brazil ; but with no less 

 than three plants of the elder Burman, which I can see no rea- 

 son for thinking the same with each other. In the first place 

 he quotes the Urtica fatua spicata, foliis floribusque petiolis lon- 

 gissimis donatis {Thes. Zeyl. 232. t. 110. /. 2.), adding that the 

 figure is good, that is to say, resembles the plant which he meant 

 to describe : but this cannot be the Batti Schorigenam, the leaves 

 of which sting, while those of the Urtica fatua, as the very name 

 implies, are inert. It is however verj"^ probable, on this very 

 account, that the Urtica (Lin. Fl. Zeyl. 159.) is the Urtica ge- 

 nus Indianum minime pungens above mentioned, as being so like 

 the Batti Schorigenam as to have been taken for it by Plukenet. 

 But further, the leaves of the Urtica fatua &c. are cordate, 



VOL. XIV. 2 o while 



