Dr. R. Wight on the Laurus Cassia of Linnaeus. 181 



having lanceolate leaves with the nerves united above the base; 

 while in the other the leaves are said to be ovate-oblong: with 

 the nerves distinct to the base — differences small indeed, and 

 such as could never be found of much avail in distinguishing 

 the one plant from the other, since they are both constantly 

 met with in different leaves on the same tree. Such being the 

 case, it is not much to be wondered at that botanists should 

 have been surprised by the boldness of Mr. Marshall's an- 

 nouncement, that two trees, believed to be of the same ge- 

 nus, and so nearly alike in their external forms, should yet 

 differ so very widely in their properties. But so it is, and 

 nothing can be more certain than that the fact is as he states 

 it. 



In proceeding to trace the history of the two species, aided 

 by the light Mr. Marshall has thrown on them, our difficulties 

 vanish like mist before the noon-day sun, though Mr. Mar- 

 shall himself has found it " difficult to conceive how the Da- 

 walkurundu obtained the appellation of Laurus Cassia from 

 Linnaeus." It was because Linnaeus's specimen of Dawalku- 

 rundu 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 so strong circum- 

 stantial evidence, as not to leave a doubt of its correctness. 

 Linnaeus has in his e Flora Zeylanica* given a short descrip- 

 tion of each of these species : his description of the cinnamon 

 is principally confined to the flower, and is most precise. In 

 his description of the other, the flower is not once alluded to. 

 Here he declares, that he knows not by w T hat mark to distin- 

 guish it from the ' camphor if era Japonensium' which in its 

 foliage it greatly resembles, but nothing can be more distinct 

 than its inflorescence ; that of the camphor tree being a pa- 

 nicle, having a stalk as long as the leaves ; while in Dawalku- 

 rundu 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 of which capitula usually form verticels round the 

 naked parts of the branches where the leaves have fallen. He 



