Sir J. E. SiMtTri on the Li"mnn Rhodium 



t>' 



the isle of Rhodes being its native countiy. We find nothing 

 among them indicative of the above Liqitidanibar, or any similar 

 tree. It is evident that Pococke had but a superficial knowledge 

 of tlie historical, and still less of the botanical, part of the subject. 

 The only point I have had in view, after the example of Dr. Sib- 

 thorp, was to ascertain Pococke's plant. Specimens preserved in 

 the herbarium of my deceased friend, and a pencil sketch by 

 Mr. Bauer, show this to be, without any doubt, what he deter- 

 mined it, the Liquidambar Styracifiiia of Linnaeus, aiid not, as 

 Willdenow presumed, the imberbe of Aiton. This last was brought 

 from the Levant,' Duhamel says from Caria, by Peysonel to the 

 Paris garden, from whence I have an authentic specimen. Miller 

 obtained seeds, by which the L. imberbe was introduced into our 

 gardens, and he describes it well. Nothing can be more distinct 

 as a species; but it was not well ascertained when Dr. Sibthorp 

 began his travels, Avhich will account for his adverting to the 

 American Liquidambar only. 



There still remains great difficulty in accounting for the intro- 

 duction of this tree into Cyprus, and for its becoming so famous 

 there. The plant is not known to have been cultivated in En- 

 gland, much before the end of the seventeenth century, scarcely 

 fifty years before Pococke found it, apparently long established 

 in Cyprus. The Venetians were owners of this island from the 

 year 1480 to 1570; so that if they, as Dr. Sibthorp guesses, in- 

 troduced this tree, it must have been among the earlier botanical 

 importations from the new-discovered continent. But we can 

 find no traces of the Liquidambar tree having, any where, excited 

 the particular attention of the Venetians, or any other Italians, 

 either for medical, oeconomical, or religious purposes ; nor does 

 it occur in their gardens, or even their botanical catalogues, as far 

 as I can trace. Pococke's vague mention of the " isle of Marti- 



nico" 



