228 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



capsulse dehiscentiam pulpo involuta, in centro permanentia. Receptacula 

 tria medio valvularuin longitudinaliter adnata, carnosa, bifariam dentata. 

 Semina pliua in piilpo purpureo succulento ramentaceo nidulantia, recep- 

 taculonim denticulis insidentia, angnlata. Albumen album. Embryo rec- 

 tus. Cotyledones planse. 



CoRONDi, seu CouRONDi, p. 103. tab. 50. 



Commeiine mentions that this tree had been described by Zanoni under the 

 name of Corundi, but gives no hint at its affinities. 



Plukenet {Aim. 307.) described a tree of the West Indies, which the Caribs 

 called Maubain, Mombina, or Mommiiia, and which, therefore, we might sup- 

 pose to be a Spondias, although he is doubtful whether it be the Hobos or 

 Spondlas Myrobalanus ; and he mentions it as different from the Spondias 

 Mombin of Linnaeus, of which he gives a figure in the Phytographia {t. 218. 

 /. 3.). But in the Mantissa (156.) he considers his Momhina as the same with 

 his Mamee Lidice Occid. Jitglandis folio vinifera (Phyt. t. 204. /. 2.), which, if 

 the synonyma quoted are right, is a tree {Mammea Americana) having no sort 

 of affinity with the Spondias ; for it has simple leaves, while those of the Spon- 

 dias are pinnated. The figure given by Plukenet is so imperfect that very 

 little reliance can be placed on it ; nor can I venture to affirm whether it 

 represents the branch of a tree with simple leaves, or part of a compound leaf. 

 The name Juglandis folio, however, clearly implies the latter, and it is pro- 

 bable that Plukenet's Mombina is therefore a Spondias, the more especially as 

 he compares it to the Cat Ambalam {Hort. Malab. i. 93.), which escaped my 

 notice when I treated of that plant {Linn. Trans, xiii. 532.). Plukenet also 

 compares with his Mombina the Courondi, of which I am now treating ; but 

 tliis only shows his inaccuracy, the Courondi having simple leaves. We may, 

 therefore, altogether reject Plukenet's comparison of the Courondi with his 

 American plant as unsatisfactory. 



M. Lamarck {Enc. Mdth. ii. 160.) mentions this tree on the authority of 

 Rheede, without being able to throw any light on its affinities, merely qiioting 

 a name given by Ray, and derived entirely, I suppose, from Rheede's account. 

 M. Lamarck thinks it probable, that in the Couro?idi the germen is above the 

 calyx ; but of tliis I am doubtful, as in the drawing of the fruit there is not 



