on the Hortus Malabaricus, Part IF. 199 



of nut, as the cavity filled with a corky substance may have readily been mis- 

 taken for a loculamentum containing a seed. If such be the case, the fruit of 

 these two plants will approach near in character to that of the Gmelina, and 

 they will form a genus distinct enough from Fitex. 



ViDi Maram, p. 77. tab. 37. 



Maram signifying 'tree', the Malabar name is Fidi. In the letter-press 

 Rheede says that the Brahmans call it Quurevna ; but on the plate the name 

 is Salanti. Neither name has any affinity to the Bahuvaraka of the Sanskrita, 

 corrupted by the Bengalese into Bahuari ; nor to Lissaura, the name by which 

 several trees of this genus are called in the Hindwi dialect. 



The older botanists under the name Sebestena, derived from sepsfan of the 

 Arabs, described a plant, of which some authors reckoned two varieties, the 

 Sebestena domestlca and S. sylvestris ; and others, such as Plukenet, considered 

 them as distinct species. He calls the former " Prunus Sebestena domestica"' 

 {Aim. 306.; Phyt. t. 2X7- f. 2.); and the Fidi Maram he calls "Prunus Sebes- 

 tena longiore folio Maderaspatensis" referring to it the Sebestena sylvestris of 

 C. Bauhin and Alpinus (Aim. 306.; Phyt. t. 217./. 3.). 



Rumphius {Herb. Amh. iii. 156.) considered the Fidi Maram as being his 

 Arbor glutinosa ; but the latter has only four or five divisions in the flower, 

 while the Fidi Maram has six ; and although Burman in his Commentary 

 takes the Arbor glutinosa to be the Sebestena, Rumphius is far from coun- 

 tenancing such an opinion. 



Linn£eus adopted the opinion of there being only one species of Sebestena, 

 which he called Cordia Myxa (Burnt. Fl. Ind. 53.; fFilld. Sp. PI. i. 1072.), 

 applying the Arabic name Sebestena to an American plant. It must, however, 

 be observed, that neither figure of Plukenet nor that of Rheede can bs recon- 

 ciled with the specific character given by Burman and Willdenow from Lin- 

 naeus ; for in the figures the calyx is smooth, and the corymbus terminal, 

 while in the definitions the calyx is said to be striated, and the corymbus 

 lateral. M. Lamarck, therefore, justly suspected that the plant which Lin- 

 naeus actually saw, was not that of Egypt, nor of Malabar, but an American 

 tree, which M. Lamarck calls Cordia lutea {III. Gen. i. 421.), while the Fidi 

 Maram he calls Cordia officinalis {III. Gen. i. 420. t. 96./. 3.). This, however 



