172 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commetitary 



The word Elati-canto, used by the Brahmans of Malabar, is of asimilar nature, 

 Canto signifying Thorn in the Hindwi dialect. 



Commeline made no attempt to class this plant. Plukenet, having thought 

 that he had a plant nearly allied to the Wadouha (p. 97.) of this volume, con- 

 ceived that it might be the Idu Mulli, and called it Wadouke Malaharicce haud 

 multum dispar, Frutex aculeatus e Maderaspatan [Aim. 395.; Phyt. t. 69. f. 7-); 

 but the figure which he gives seems to have little or no resemblance to either 

 Idu Mulli or fVadouka. He afterwards {Mant. 133.) formed a more rational 

 conjecture, and says, " Myrohalano Bellericce, ut nobis videtur Idu Mulli con- 

 gener est, et nominari potest Myrobalanus Indica, Arbor spinis horrida, angus- 

 tiore folio longo,fructu racemoso," Now, although from the number of stamina, 

 as well as from the habit, this cannot be a Mi/rohalamis or TerminaUa, I have 

 little or no doubt of its belonging to the same natural order. At one time I 

 thought that it might possibly belong to the genus called Pyrularia by Mi- 

 chaux [Enc. M^th. v. 745.), but which Willdenow has chosen, without any 

 good reason, to call Hamiltonia {Sp. PL iv. 1114.). The appearance of the 

 plants, however, differs so much, that I now think them likely to belong to 

 different genera. 



PoERiNsii, seu PuRiNSii, seu Vercoepoelongi, j[;. 43. tab. 19. 



The Portuguese and Dutch names arise from the saponaceous quality of the 

 fruit ; but whether or not any of the Indian names allude to this quality I 

 know not, all the Indian names for soap that I know being derived from the 

 Portuguese, by whom, probably, this substance was introduced ; nor is it yet 

 common, except among persons employed by Europeans. 



Commeline remarks, that the natives of hot climates {Indi) use various 

 saponaceous fruits ; but that the Poerinsii was of a genus totally unknown 

 to botanists. Ray, in arranging the plants of the Hortus Malabaricus, threw 

 no further light on the subject by calling it Prunifera fructu racemoso parvo, 

 nucleo saponario, although J. Bauhin had given the name Saponaria to some 

 American plants nearly allied to this ; but the Nux Portoricensis ampUssimif: 

 foliis venosis et Icete virentibus, with which Plukenet compares it {Aim. 265.; 

 Phyt. t. 208./. 2.), having simple leaves, can have no affinity with the Poerinsii, 

 nor with the Sphcerulce saponarice of J. Bauhin. 



