BOTANY. 69 



SMALL LAGERSTRCEMIA. 



The Tavoy forests are adorned with a smaller species 

 oflagerstroemia than the preceding, but the flowers are 

 equally elegant and quite as large. 



Lagerstrcemia. 



INDIAN LAGERSTRCEMIA. 



This is a small pretty shrub, common in gardens in 

 Maulmain, and of easy cultivation. 



Lagerstrcemia indica. 



HENNA TREE. 



This is the camphire of the English Bible, and the cy- 

 press shrub of the Greeks and Romans. " The cypress 

 plant," says Rosenmuller, "is held in particularly high es- 

 teem by the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Turks ; and they 

 think that they make an agreeable present when they of- 

 fer a person a posy of its flowers. In reality, this plant is, 

 as Sonnini observes, one of those which are .particularly 

 agreeable to the eye and the olfactory organs. The flow- 

 ers, of which the coloring is so soft, spread the most de- 

 lightful fragrance to a great distance, and fill with balsa- 

 mic odour the gardens and rooms which they adorn." It 

 is extensively cultivated by the Burmese, and hedges 

 formed of it are common in Bengal. 



The fresh leaves beat up with catechu, 



•' 'Imbue 



The fingers ends with a bright roseate hue, 

 So bright that in the mirror's depth they seem 

 Like tips of coral branches in the stream." 



This use of the leaves is as old as the Egyptian mum- 

 mies, and is still practiced by Burman females. 



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