Myrsinee.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 265. 
best to include among Myrsinee the tribe of Mese@, and in Primulacee that of Samolee. 
With regard to their distribution, he remarks, that they grow cotimonly on the hilly 
and mountainous regions of the hottest parts of the globe. None have yet been found 
beyond the 39th or 40th degrees of latitude, wiz. in Japan. The 180 known species 
are distributed as follows: 112 in Asia and New Holland, 48 in America, and 20 
in Africa; that is, at the Cape and in the Islands. Of the above, 36 species are found 
in India. | | : , 
Of the genera occurring in India, Myrsine and Ardisia are common to Asia and Ame- 
rica, and the first exists also at the Cape, Azores, Canaries, China, and Japan. Zgiceras, 
Embelia, and Mesa, are found in the Indian Archipelago and the Burmese territories ; 
the first, also, indeed the same species, 4. fragrans, spreads to New Holland, is 
common in the Delta of the Ganges, and the coasts of the Peninsula; whence it has 
been well-figured by Dr. Wight (Bot. Misc. Supp. t. xxi). esa oceurs also in Arabia 
and Madagascar. Choripetalum is a new genus formed by M. A. De Candolle of two 
plants, one from Nepal and the other from the Indian Peninsula. — Myrsine, Mesa, 
Ardisia, and Embelia, are found in the Indian Peninsula and Silhet, whence they spread 
along the foot of the mountains to Nepal and. the Deyra Doon: the two first alone ascend 
the mountains in this northern latitude; but Ardisia is found on the Silhet mountains as 
well as on the Neelgherries. | | 
 Ardisia (solanacea, Roxb.) humilis, Vahl, already the most widely-diffused spécies of 
the family, is that which runs furthest north, Being found in the forests below Nahn; 
and Embelia (Samara? Ham.) picta, Wall. 2302, first found at Goalpara, extends north 
even to below Sabathoo, along the so frequently alluded to tropic-girt base of the 
Himalaya. Here also occurs: E. robusta, first found on the Rajmahl Hills. In ascend- 
ing we are deserted by all; except species of Myrsine and Mesa; of the fotmer 
M. bifaria, semiserrata, and'a new species, M. acuminata, nob. are found as high as 
Mussooree, with Mesa argentea' and M. indica; the last is also common about 
Suhunsudhara. i | 
The properties of D/yrsinee are not well-knidwn; but some of them: afford’ wood of 
good quality, though small. M.A. De Candolle has observed’in them a “ disposition to 
produce a resinous substance; which appears’ as dots or reservoirs in different parts of 
the plant, chiefly in the leaves, flowers,’ and’ berries:” The Berries of Embelia Ribes 
are collected in the Silhet district, and mixed with Black pepper by the small traders 
in that article; and the fraud is assisted by their being possessed of some degree of | 
pungency (Roxb.), which M: A. De Canidolle’ ascribes to the quantity and some 
peculiar quality of the resinous substance. The berries called bae bhirung are, however, 
also collected for medical use, as they are considered by the Natives in the northern 
provinces to be cathartic and anthelmintic : those of E. robusta are substituted for them 
under the same name, as we have seen is done with Symplocos paniculata for S.racemosa. 
Cathartic properties are also ascribed, and it is to be remarked, by people unacquainted 
with the natural affinities of plants, to Myrsine bifaria, which is used in India under 
2M the 
