Dr F. Hamilton's description of Garcinla Pedunculata. 45 



Akt. Wl.— 'Description of a Plant of the order of GuttiJ-ercc, 

 which Dr Roxburgh called Garcinia pedunculata. By 

 Fkancis Hamilton, M. D. F. R. S. and F. A. S. Lond. 

 and Edin. Communicated by the Author. 



In an account of Asam, which I published in the Annals of 

 Oriental Literature, (244-,) I have mentioned a fruit, which 

 ig exported from that country to Bengal to be used as an acid 

 seasoning, and which is called Thaikol. This is of two kinds, 

 Bara and Kuji, or great and little. The latter is the tree 

 of which I am now about to give an account, that of Dr Rox- 

 burgh having not yet appeared. 



With the Garci7iia of Linnaeus, Dr Roxburgh united the 

 genus Oxycarpus of Loureiro, which M. Petit Thouars, for 

 better reasons than usual with his innovations, has called Brin- 

 donia ; and this arrangement, having been adopted by M. 

 Choisy, is followed by Decandolle. If the genus Garcinia 

 thus constituted be good, as, even including the Camhogia of 

 Linnaeus, it contains only thirteen species, (Decand. Prodr, i. 

 560,) why has it been divided into two sections, Mangostana 

 and Brindonia. Had it indeed contained a hundred species 

 such a division may have been useful in facilitating the inves- 

 tigation of an unknown plant ; but the small number of spe- 

 cies renders this unnecessary. If, on the contrary, the Brin- 

 donia differs essentially from the Mangostana, why not at 

 once form them into two genera ? 



The Thaikol, although in flower it agrees entirely with the 

 character of Brindonia or Oxycarpus, differs essentially in 

 wanting the pulpy arillus round each seed ; and its general ap- 

 pearance differs a good deal from all the species of Garcinia 

 that I have seen. Although I found it pretty generally diffus- 

 ed through the gardens of the Rungpur district, where it had 

 been introduced from Asam, I never saw the male plant ; but 

 this may have been merely accidental. I here confine my de- 

 scription to the hermaphrodite. The specimens sent to the 

 India-House are marked by the name which Dr Roxburgh 

 used. 



Arbor mediocris ramulis compressus glabris. Folia oppo- 



