148 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



♦ 

 or Saros. Rheede says that it grows in the woods of Malabar ; but so far as 



I have observed, it seemed to me to have been always planted, and reared with 

 care in the neighbourhood of villages or in gardens ; and I suspect that it has 

 been introduced from the great Oceanic Archipelago, where it would seem to 

 be a spontaneous production, being, I suppose, the Catappa silvestris of Ruin- 

 phius (see my Commentary on Herb. Amh. i. 175-)- Both Ada and Saros, 

 however, may be Malabar words peculiar to this plant, which would seem to 

 imply its being indigenous ; but Jibe, the name given to it by the Brahmans in 

 Malabar, is also peculiar to that country ; nor does there seem to be any 

 Sanscrita name for this plant, which would imply its being an exotic lately 

 introduced. At any rate, that it is so in the North of India I have no doubt, 

 because in the vulgar dialects spoken there it is called Budam, or the Almond- 

 tree, on account of its kernels being like those of the almond. This, although 

 a very slight affinity, seems to have at first satisfied Nieuhof, Ray and Pluke- 

 net, who called the tree Amygdakis indlca (^Alm. 28.). Afterwards, indeed, 

 on account of an absurd resemblance which he imagined to exist between its 

 fruit and that of his Prunifera Fago similis arbor Gummi Elemi fundens,Jigura 

 et magnitudine Olivce ex Insula Barbadensi {Aim. 306; Phyt. t. 217./! 4.), 

 the last-mentioned author considered the Ada maram as nearly allied to this 

 plant {Mant. 156.), which, although by no means the Amyris Elemifera of 

 modern botanists, is certainly not the Ada maram ; nor, if it produces Gum 

 Elemi, is it likely to be even of the same natural order, none of the Combre- 

 tacece producing odorous resins. 



The elder Burman probably mentioned this tree under the following name. 

 Arbor indica, amara, nucleis Amygdali facie, Katappas Lusitanis, Samandara 

 zeylonensibiis, as I shall endeavour to show when I treat of the Hagam {Hort. 

 Malab. vi. 37.). 



llumphius {Herb. Amb. i. 175.) described two kindred species, the Catappa 

 domestica and silvestris ; and in the Appendix ( 1 76.) he notices the strong affinity 

 which these have to the Ada maram, without mentioning to which of his kinds 

 it is nearest. I have already stated that I think it is his C. silvestris. It was 

 not introduced into the modern system until Linnaeus published the Mantissa, 

 in which he improperly called it Terminalia Catappa (see my Commentary on 

 the Herb. Amb. i. 175.), a name retained by more modern botanists {E71C. 



