268 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Jasminee. 
other characters, by the want of symmetry between the number of the stamens and those 
of the divisions of the calyx and corolla. In this respect they serve to connect the 
preceding with the following, and some other orders in which a like want of corres- 
pondence is observed. 
The Jasmines are found in small numbers in Tropical islands, in Africa and South 
America, as well as in China and New Holland; butin great numbers in the East-Indies, 
whence they e#tend into Arabia and Persia; and from that. to the South, of Europe, 
where J. fruticosum is found, as well as J. odoratissimum, introduced from the Island of 
Madeira. J. officinale has become so naturalized in the gardens of England, that we 
cannot believe it, as generally supposed to be, a native of India, as we know no other 
instance where a shrub from the plains or southern parts of that country has become 
acclimated so far north: but the common name. of the Jasmine in, the languages of 
Europe indicate their origin from the Arabic name Vasmeen. J. grandiflorum is the 
most nearly allied species, and this flourishes in the hottest parts of India : Dr. Wallich 
has, however, obtained specimens from the mountains of Kemaon, which he has 
referred to this species, and which are very similar to some I have gathered on such 
mountains as Dhunoultee, Suen, Acharanda, Kedarkanta, and Urrukta. These I have 
been in the habit of considering as J. officinale, as it is not usual to find the same shrub, 
common in the plains and: at 7,000 and 8,000 feet of elevation in 30° of N. latitude. 
The other mountain species: are J. dispermum, found in N epal,. Kemaon, and at 
Mussooree, and which I found in great abundance in descending from Bechur-bagh on 
the Suen range to the Giree river. The other mountain species.are yellow-flowered, 
as J. pubigerum, Don., glandulosum, Wall., and chrysanthemoides, nob., as wellas J. nanum, 
allied to J. humile, which descends from Mussooree to the Deyra Doon; in the latter 
are also found J. hirsutum and arborescens. The species most commonly cultivated in 
gardens are J. chrysanthemum and grandiflorum. J. laurifolium from Chirrapoonjee is 
highly ornamental, and. J: Zambac is remarkable. for frequently exhibiting several 
corols, one contained within the other, with the innermost only occasionally bearing 
stamens. 
Nyctanthes arbor tristis or Hursinghar, cultivated in every garden, with the native 
site of which Dr. Roxburgh expresses himself as unacquainted, is extremely common 
along the foot of the mountains which skirt the Deyra Doon, and may be seen for 
several hundred feet above Rajpore in the ascent to Mussooree. I have also met with 
it further north on the Suen Range in the descent to the Giree. Dr. Wallich also 
found it in a wild state near the banks of the Irrawaddy, on the hills near Prome ; and 
as there can be no doubt about this species even to the most sceptical, it affords a very 
satisfactory instance of the extensive distribution of the same species along the base of 
the mountains, even when separated by 12° of latitude, or from 18° to 30°. 
The Jasmines, like the Olives, though in a less degree, are possessed of a slight 
-degree of bitterness in their leaves, but are conspicuous for their delicate fragrance ; 
which is, however, of so evanescent a nature, as only to be fixed by the flowers being 
a immersed 
