214 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Melastomacee. 
found by him in Arabia. The Arabic name, asul or atul, is applied to Furas ( ul) in 
India, as to T. orientalis, in Arabia and Egypt. With 7. indica and dwica, T. (Trichaurus, 
W. and A.) ericoides, is found in the Peninsula. 
Myricaria, a genus of which one species extends from Europe to the Caucasus, 
and others are found in Siberia and Dahuria, has also two species in the Himalayas : 
AM. bracteata, Tab. 44. f.2, found in the vicinity of Cashmere; and J elegans, nob., 
at Lippa, in Kunawur, where the climate has been shown to be Tataric, and the 
soil saline. | 
Bitterness and astringency are the properties ascribed to the Tamariscinee, and hence 
the occasional employment of the European species as a tonic, and as a substitute for 
hops in making beer in Denmark. In India, also, the twigs of 7. indica and dioica, are 
considered astringent; but the plants are more valued on account of the galls which 
are formed on these, and on 7. Furas, as on T. orientalis in Egypt, and which being 
highly astringent, are now, as in former times, used in medicine and dyeing. Those 
formed on T. Furas are called sumrut-ool-asul or chotee-mue; and of the jhuo, sumrut- 
ool-toorfa or buree-mue. They are chiefly imported from Mooltan, but I have found 
them on the Furas in Delhi. The ashes of 7” gallica and Africana, when growing near 
the sea, contain a large proportion of sulphate of soda, so that they may be profitably 
burnt to obtain this salt; its abundance explains the utility of some of these plants as 
diuretics. It would be interesting to ascertain the quantity contained in the ashes of 
plants grown in the saline country to the westward of the Jumna. A product very 
different from any of these is the manna produced by a species of Zamarisk. This has 
been ascertained by Ehrenberg to be produced by the puncture of Coccus maniparus, on 
a variety of T. gallica, growing on Mount Sinai. The manna has long been known by 
the name of Arabian, to distinguish it from Persian manna, the produce of Alhagi Mau- 
vorum, the toorunjbeen, (v. p. 194) of Arabian authors. This is called Guzunjbeen, from 
Guz or Kuz, one of the names of 7. gallica, or a species of Zamarish. 
Myricaria bracteata; caule angulato striato, foliis lineari-lanceolatis sessilibus subpatentibus, spicis 
terminalibus solitariis, bracteis deciduis latis cordatis membranaceis pedicello longioribus.—Tab. 44. f. 2. 
(a.) Flower seen from below, with a scale attached to the pedicel ;—(b.) the same, with the petals sepa- 
rated, and the monadelphous stamens opened out ;—(c.) capsule with one side removed, showing the 
three placentz, one inserted into the base of each valve. 
M. elegans ; caule rotundo striato, foliis alternis oblongis ovatis patentibus basi attenuatis, racemis 
paniculatis lateralibus, bracteis ovatis acuminatis pedicello subsequalibus.—M. Davurice affinis ex 
descriptione Ledeb. vol. iii, p- 224, 
73. MELASTOMACES. 
This is one of the most natural families, and, with a few exceptions, a strictly tro- 
pical one, which is very prevalent in, but not confined to the New World, as though 
650 species have been found there, no less than 150 species have been discovered in 
Asia, but as yet only twelve in Africa. Of the genera, eighty-three in number, only 
ten occur in Asia; those, of which Species are found in India, are, Osbeckia, Melastoma, 
Oxyspora, Sonerila, Sarcopyramis, Triplectrum, and Pternandra. Of these, the five last 
have 
