(m the Hortus Malabaricus, Part IF.- 149 



Mdth. i. 348.; Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 967.; Hort. Kew. v. 441.). I must here cau- 

 tion the young botanist against relying on the specific character given by these 

 authors, however respectable. The leaves of the Ada maram, as well as of the 

 Catappa dnmestka, have in general edges quite entire ; and the real difference 

 between them consists in the former being pubescent, and the latter smooth. 



Panem Palka, seu Panam Palca, p. 9. tab. 3. 



This tree, according to Commeline, was well kno^vn to John Bauhin, al- 

 though it is alleged that his brother mistook its fruit for that of a Palm. 

 Plukenet called it Nux Myrlstica spuria {Aim. 265.) ; and the elder Bur- 

 man, copying Herman, called it Nux Myristlca, ohlonga, Malabar tea {Thes. 

 Zeyl. 172.). Under the name of Myristlca fnictu inodoro, Linnaeus (Fl. Zeyl. 

 588.) placed it among his Annihilutce, the explanation of which (" sunt planta- 

 rum zeylonensium nomina, quae soni prsetereaque nihil,") seems very little 

 applicable to a plant, the female of which has been described and figured 

 excellently by Rheede. As, however, this author did not mention the male, 

 Linnaeus, vnth the sexual system, was no doubt at a loss. 



Among the more recent botanists this tree was first taken up by Thunberg 

 (anno 1782), who called it Myristlca tomentosa. M. Lamarck, overlooking 

 this, or uncertain of what plant Thunberg meant, called it Myristlca malaba- 

 rica {Enc. Mdth. iv. 388.), and distinguished it from the Nux Myristlca Mas 

 of Rumphius, with which Burman in his observation {Herb. Amb. ii. 25.) had 

 confounded it. Rumphius himself, although he admitted a great similarity, 

 pointed out several differences, which should have prevented Burman's mis- 

 take, especially as the latter had probably mentioned the Nux Myristlca 

 Mas of Rumphius under Herman's name, Nux Zeylanlca, Moschatte rofundce 

 simllls, oblonga {Thes. Zeyl. 172.), which is probably the M. Phlllppensls of 

 M. Lamarck. 



Whether or not Gaertner could have seen M. Lamarck's account of this 

 tree, first published in the Memoirs of the French Academy, I know not ; 

 but in the same year (1788), overlooking also the account of Thunberg, he 

 described the fruit of the Panem Palca by the name of .1/. dacfyloldes {De 

 Sem. i. 195. t. 41./. 2.). Willdenow {Sp. PI. iv. 870.) restored Thunberg's 

 name, M. tomentosa ; but falls into Burman's error in considering the Nux 



X 2 



