202 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



Medicce ampUorihits foliis Maderaspatana " (^Alm. A\. t. W] .f. 3.) ; for between 

 two of the leaves in the very imperfect figure there is an appearance of stipulae, 

 as in the Gardenia ; and in fact, the leaves in the figure are more like those of 

 a Gardenia than those of the Ponna, which I do not recollect having seen near 

 Madras, although it is common on the opposite coast of Malabar. Besides, if 

 Plukenet Avas right in considering the "Ntix oleosa D/iumba Zei/lonensihus dicta" 

 as the same with his " Nux Bengalensis Juglandi folio, fructu orbiculari," he has 

 probably described the Ponna under that name, as Domba is its Ceylonese 

 name. He indeed says that this Nux Bengalensis was procured from the 

 Island of Barbadoes, nor can any leaf be more unlike that of the Ponna than 

 the Walnut. In another part, however, he says, that he received the branch 

 from the East Indies under the name Ponakai, that is, the fruit Potia, no doubt 

 the same with Ponna. Notwithstanding, therefore, the unfortunate comparison 

 of the leaves with those of the Wall-nut-tree, we may consider the Nux Ben- 

 galensis Juglandis folio, fructu orbiculari as the Ponna. It is true, that this 

 tree is not a native of Bengal, nor is Punakai a Bengalese word, but belongs 

 to Malabar. The ship, however, that brought the specimen may have last 

 come from Bengal. In the passage of Plukenet last quoted, he confounds the 

 Dhumba and Ponna with the Red-wood of Barbadoes and several other Ame- 

 rican trees, especially the Log-wood. This is no doubt erroneous ; but it is 

 possible that the Ponna, as Plukenet alleges, may be the Palnia Maria, used 

 by Spanish seamen for masts, because the tree so used by our English seamen 

 is called Poon, nearly the same word with the Punna of Rheede, which from 

 its size and form is well suited for the purpose. The Poon used, however, by 

 our seamen I have heard of as rather a production of the Eastern Archipelago 

 than of Malabar ; and I presume that it is the Calophyllum angustifolium of 

 the Hortus Bengalensis (4 1 .), called Poon by the Malays. 



Rumphius {Herb. Amb. ii. 215.) considered the Ponna as the same with his 

 Bintangor inaritima (jo. 211.), although he admits that tiiere are some dif- 

 ferences, especially in so far as the Ponna is not stated to be a maritime plant 

 like the Bintangor. The fact however is, that although Rheede does not call 

 it a maritime plant, yet he says, " provenit ubique in Malabar locis nimirum 

 arenosis." Now in this province such places are found only along the shore ; 

 and it is there only where I have seen it growing spontaneously {Buchanans 



