on the Ilortus Malabaiicus, Part IV. 221 



Jamaica ; and, if we must have the Oepata to be found in the West Indies, it 

 should be rather the Avicennia nlt'ida than the A. tomentosa, for its leaves, if 

 not shining on both sides, are at least smooth. 



M. Lamarck {Enc. MM. i. 330.) entirely rejects the Linnsean error of con- 

 founding the Oepata with the Anacardium ; but he retains that of uniting it 

 with the hairy-leaved plant of the West Indies ; yet the figure which he gives 

 (///. Gen. t. 540.) of the A. tomentosa is evidently very different from the Oepata, 

 having the flower in racemes instead of panicles ; nor does it even agree with 

 his own specific character, "A. foliis ovato-oblongis, subtus tomentosis," for 

 the leaves are lanceolated ; and I suspect that it, in fact, represents neither the 

 Oepata nor the West Indian Bontia, although M. Poiret (Enc. MMi. Suppl. 

 i. 539.) refers us to it for the Avicennia tomentosa. On the whole, the figure 

 pven by M. Lamarck bears a stronger resemblance to the Mangium album 

 than to the Oepata, although its leaves are still narrower and sharper than 

 even in the figure of Rumphiiis. 



Mr. R. Brown for his Avicennia tomentosa (Nov. Holl. i. 518.) quotes neither 

 Rheede, nor Rumphius, nor the Bontia of the West Indies ; but he considers 

 the A. resinifera {JVilld. Sp. PI. iii. 395.) as the same ; and I suspect that this 

 is the plant figured by M. Lamarck. We may therefore, on the whole, con- 

 sider the Oepata as not yet introduced into the system of modern botany, on 

 which account, in the catalogue of dried specimens presented to the library at 

 the India House, I have mentioned it as follows : 



Avicennia Oepata. 



Avicennia tomentosa. Hort. Beng. 46. 



Avicennia. Limi. Fl. Zeyl. 57. (exclusis synonymorum tribus prioribus.) 

 Mangium album. Herb. Amb. iii. 115. t. 76? 

 Oepata. Hort. Malab. iv. 95. t. 45. 

 Sa-msek rueek-wum Barmanorum. 

 Habitat ad littora maris coenosa in India et intra et ultra Gangem. 



On my return from Ava to Calcutta, specimens and a drawing of the Oepata 

 were transmitted to Europe, and given to Sir Joseph Banks, while a copy of 

 the drawing remains at the India House. I shall here annex a description. 



2 G 2 



