ILTUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 105 
lime, citron, pumplemose, bergamot, &c. are too well known to require notice here, but it is not 
generally known, that the pulp of the wood-apple (feronia elephantum) affords a very 
pleasant jelly, so closely resfibling black currant jelly that it is only to be distinguished 
by a slight degree of astringency which it communicates to the taste. In common with that of 
most of the order, the wood of this tree is very hard and durable, and not the less valuable for 
being found in most parts of India. ‘The tree itself, is tall and handsome, with a straight trunk 
and a fine head, but the branches do not spread much. 4’ gle Marmelos equally attains the size 
of a considerable tree. I have not heard of the wood of this plant being used as timber, pro- 
bably owing to the respect in which the fruit is held by the Hindoos. It is most frequently 
met with in pagoda gardens, the following extractfrom Roxburgh’s Flora Indica, vol. 2 page 580, 
will explain the reason of the preference given to this species. 
‘‘ This is the Bilva or Matura of the Asiatic Researches, vol. 2 page 349, from whence the 
following is an extract. ‘ Uses. The fruit is nutritious, warm, cathartic ; in taste delicious, in 
fragrance exquisite; its aperient, and detersive quality, and its efficacy in removing habitual 
costiveness, have been proved by constant experience. The mucus of the seed is for some 
purposes avery good cement.’ Note—‘ This fruit is called Shreephula because it sprang, say 
the Indian poets from the milk of Shree, the goddess of abundance, who bestowed it on man- 
kind at the request of Jowarra, whence he alone wears a chaplet of Bilva flowers, to him only 
the Hindoos offer them; and when they see any of them fallen on the ground, they take them 
up with reverence, and carry them to his temple.’ 
The root, bark, leaves, and flowers are reckoned refrigerants by the Malabar physicians. 
The ripe fruit they esteem most wholesome.” 
As an ornamental garden shrub the Murraya exotica is much cultivated in this country, 
and well merits the distinction both on account of the beauty of the shrub itself, and the profu- 
sion and fragrance of its flowers; as a cultivated plant it rarely produces seed. Murraya pani- 
culata which seems scarcely distinct is frequent in our jungles. The oranges, limes, and pum- 
plemoses, are frequently cultivated in this country on account of their fruit, but the former very 
rarely with success on the plains, in Coromandel. The cause of this want of success is not as- 
certained, but Iam myself disposed to attribute it to the heat being too high during the period 
_ of their ripening their fruit, forit is well known, that in the valleys at the foot of the Ghauts 
where the cold is much greater during that season of the year, they arrive at great perfection. 
The red, loose skinned orange, which arrives at so great perfection in the alpine tracts of 
the Circars, and which is equally found on the mountains of the south, (but very inferior) is so 
very tenacious of an alpine country, that it has in the Wircars received the name of /Ai// orange. 
This, to my taste, when in perfection, is by far the most delicious of the whole tribe, but judg- 
ing from the nature of the climate in which it is said to arrive at its greatest perfection, (a cold 
very humid atmosphere) it seems next to impossible to rear it successfully on the plains. IJt 
must be recollected, that the orange for the most part ripens its fruit during the cold season, 
showing that to attain perfection it requires a considerable range of the thermometer, the heat 
in their favourite valleys being high during the day, but low during the night, supplies this desi- 
deratum. I may here mention on the authority of the late Dr. Turner that the juice of the 
lemon, lime and citron, contains a large quantity of citric, and that of the orange malic acid. 
Respecting the other species of the order a few words will suffice. Dr. Ainslie Mat. Ind. vol. 
2 page 86-87, speaks very favourably of the medicinal properties of Afgle marmelos under the 
name Crateva, adding however, that he has never seen the species, which is rather remarkable 
as it is to be met with in almost every pagoda garden. He informs us that a decoction of the 
bark of the root is considered on the Malabar coast a sovereign remedy against various forms 
of disease originating in indigestion, and that the fruit, a little unripe, is given in diarrhea and 
dysentery: and Roxburgh (cor. plants) states that the Dutch in Ceylon prepare a perfume 
The leaves of the Bergera Kénigii which are very fragrant, are much used by the natives 
as a seasoning for their curries, and are supposed stomachic and tonic. An infusion of the 
dried leaves is said to stop vomiting., 3 : 
oung leaves of Feronia elephantum have a delightful . fragrance resembling anise, 
hence they are considered stomachic and carminatine. From wounds in the bark of this tree 
a very transparent gum exudes, having the properties of gum arabic, and is said to be better 
suited than it, for mixing colours for the painter. op ba 
