BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, P.G.S., &C. 765 



a more powerful odour. The difference may arise from keeping 

 it, but doubtless it is much adulterated. This ti'ee is commonly- 

 called the tea-tree in Australia, and by a strange perversity some 

 few persons have taken to spelling it Ti-tree, a name which is 

 applied to quite a different plant in the South Sea Islands. Our 

 S])ecies is also the paper-bark tree, from the extraordinary 

 tenuity of the layers of bark, which are as thin as the finest 

 tissue paper. All the rivers in North Australia are so densely 

 lined with these trees, and these alone, that it forms impenetrable 

 thickets in most places, and this for hundreds of miles into the 

 interior. The river Katherine, in Arnheim's Land, may be 

 recognised at any portion of its course by the blue thickets of 

 this foliage, which may be seen at long distances. I believe that 

 the tree is the most extensively diffused of all known trees in the 

 Eastern Hemisphere. 



LYTHRARIE^. 



103. Lagerstroemia flos regin^, Retz. One of the hand- 

 somest and most showy flower trees of the East, whose tall spikes 

 of lilac or pink flowers form handsome objects in a great many 

 jungles. Tt is called Bunga, or the flower by way of excellence in 

 IMalay, but I think it has some other special name. Amongst the 

 Tagalo and Visayan Indians it is called Banaba. The timber is 

 highly esteemed. 



104. PuNiCA granatum, L. In Visayan, Bomba and Malingin; 



Sanscrit Darimba, whence probably, says De Candolle, most of the 



modern Indian names are derived. The domestic use of the fruit 



is of great antiquity, as the Hebrew name of Rimmon and the 



Arabic name Rumman testify. It is twice mentioned in the 



Odyssey, says DC, under the names of Roia, Roa and Sidai. The 



leaves and flowers of a pomegranate described by Sajsorta have 



been discovered fossil in the pliocene strata of France. The 



above-cited author states that botanical, historical, and philological 



data agree in showing that the above-mentioned species is a native 



of Persia. Its cultivation began in prehistoric times, and it early 

 49 



