178 ~~ ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Terebinthacee. 
Lentiscus, yielding respectively Pistachio nuts, Chio turpentine, and Mastic, products 
which are all well known in India; the last, called koondur roomee, may be translated 
Turkish Olibanum. P. Terebinthus seems to extend into Arabia, where it is called 
butum, as well as into Persia, as it is there called sukkur. Mr. Elphinstone informs 
us, that some of the hills in Caubul produce mastic, and that the pistachio grows wild 
in Hindoo-koosh. From Caubul, or, as I was informed, from Bokhara, the almond, 
as well as its pericarp, is imported into India, together with a kind of gall, called 
gool-i-pista, stated, (as in P. Terebinthus,) to be formed on, and a resin called aluk-ool- 
unbat, produced by, the pistachio-tree. This may be substituted for that of P. Tere- 
binthus, and is probably what is alluded to by Kempfer, Am. Ex. p- 414. P. Atlantica, 
called tum by the Africans, is said by Desfontaines to afford a resin like mastic, which — 
is used for the same purposes. This, therefore, might probably be introduced into the 
North of India, if the climate should be found too hot for the other species. Several, 
however, of this group afford useful products in India. Thus, Buchanania latifolia 
affords edible nuts. The mangoe is known for its delicious fruit; inferior kinds are, 
however, disagreeable to many, on account of the terebinthinate taste and smell of the 
_ skin. Besides its well-known uses as a condiment, the unripe fruit is cut into slices 
and dried—to be used as an acid when the fresh fruit is not procurable. A gum-resin 
exudes from the bark, as well as from that of Odina wodier. The latter is so abundant 
as to form an article of commerce. It is called, in Northern India, jhingun ke gond 
and kenni ke gond. The latter name, or nearly the same, kinneh ke gond, is given by 
Dr. Ainslie as the Hindoostanee of Galbanum. A gall is also produced on. the leaf and 
fruit of Odina wodier, formed by the deposition of the ova of a species of Aphis. 
Some of the Anacardie@ are, however, more remarkable for the acrid nature of their 
juices, which, on drying, become black, and are used as varnishes; as that of the Ana- 
cardium occidentale, or cashew-nut ; so also of Semecarpus anacardium, or marking-nut. 
The variety of this, or species, S. cuneifolium, found in Northern India, is also used for 
marking cotton, and in native medicine. This resinous balsam is insoluble in water, 
and only miscible with alcohol when this has been previously alcalized, Rorb: Dr. B. 
Hamilton informs us, that the juice procured from Holigarna longifolia, is used in 
Malabar for varnishing shields. Melanorrhea usitata of Dr.Wallich, Pl. As. Rar. t. 11 
and 12, is the ¢heet-see, or varnishing-tree of the Burmese, found at Prome, Martaban, 
Moulmein, and Tavoy. Dr. W. identified this with the Kheu, or varnish-tree of Mun- 
nipore, on the N.E. of Silhet, where it grows with saul and teak, Shorea robusta and 
Tectona grandis, as well as the wood oil-tree (Dipterocarpus) in the valley of Kubbur, 
elevated 500 feet above the plains of Bengal in about 25° N. lat. This tree abounds 
im a thick and viscid, greyish-brown fluid, which turns black soon after coming into 
contact with the air. Though the natives of the country seem to touch it with im- 
punity, its contact is frequently followed by painful and deleterious effects. It is 
used for paying boats, and for varnishing vessels intended to hold liquids, also for 
gilding, and as a kind of ink (v, Wall. l.c. p. 11 and 12.) Dr.Wallich also mentions 
the 
