338 REMARKS ON LAURUS CASSIA. 
by the light Mr Marshall has thrown on them, our difficulties — 
vanish like mist before the noonday sun, though Mr M. him- - 
self has found it ** difficult to conceive how the Dawalkurundu 
obtained the appellation of Zaurus Cassia from Linnaeus." lt — 
was because Linnzeus’ specimen of Dawalkurundu was neither 
in flower nor in fruit. Had it been so, he was too acute an 
observer ever to have confounded it with the plants with which 
he has associated it in his synonyms. This explanation, it 
may be answered, is mere assumption on my part—it certainly 
is so, but supported by such strong circumstantial evidence, a5 
not to leave a doubt of its correctness. Linnæus has in his 
Flora Zeylanica given a short description of each of these : 
species: his description of the Cinnamon is principally con- — 
fined to the flower, and is most precise. In his description of 4 
the other, the flower is not once alluded to. Here he de: - 
clares, that he knows not by what mark to distinguish it from 
the Camphorifera japonensium, which in its foliage it. greatly 
resembles, while nothing can be more distinct than its M- - 
florescence—that of the Camphor-tree being a panicle, having | 
 a&stalk as long as the leaves, while in Datwalkurundu it may 
be described as a subsessile capitulum, that is, 5 or 6 sessile 
flowers congested on the apex of a very short peduncle, and 
surrounded by an involucrum of 4 or 5 leaves; several : 
which capitula usually form verticels round the naked parts 
of the branches where the leaves have fallen. He begins his 
description of Laurus Cassia* by stating that he at first oP 
sidered it a variety of the antecedent (Cinnamon,) but no 
that he knows not by what mark to distinguish it from Cam- 
phorifera japonensium, for the leaves are thinner than those 
. of Cinnamon, their nerves uniting above the base as in Cam- 
phorifera, and are sprinkled beneath with a greyish dew 
(subtus. rore casio illinita) as in the Camphor-tree, and are a 
* ^ Hanc speciem olim pro antecedentis varietate habui, nunc vero 4 
Camphorifera japonensium distinguam, non novi; Folia 
ora, nervis ante basin coeuntibus ut in Camphoriiel™ 
illinita, ut Camphora, et simul lanceolata ac tenu 
inn. Flor. Zeylanica, p- 02. ——— 
