246 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



Plukenet {Mant. 22. t. 339. /. 1 .). This, as I have said, was quoted by Lin- 

 naeus for the Noeli Tali, from which it differs in having five stamina. It is, 

 therefore, probably the plant which Linnaeus actually described in the Flora 

 Zei/lanlca (357., et Aor. Gen. ad calcem p. 14.). This plant of Plukenet was 

 entirely left out by M. Lamarck ; but by M. Poiret it is considered as a variety 

 (/3.) of the Antidesma pubescens {Enc. 3Mh. Stippl. i. 402.), an opinion adopted 

 by Willdenow {Sp. PL iv. 763.), although both quote Plukenet erroneously, 

 the one quoting the Pki/tographia, and the other the AmaUheum, while the 

 plant is actually described in the Mantissa. I doubt very much, however, 

 whether the plant of Plukenet, which in the Hindwi dialect is called Matha- 

 sura, be sufficiently distinct from what I consider as the A.pamcidata {ff'illd. 

 Sp. PL iv. 764.; Enc. MM. Suppl. i. 402.; Hort. Kew. v. 384.; Hort. Beng. 

 72.), the male of which by the Bengalese is called Amri, and the female Ahu- 

 tenga. Specimens of both the 3Iathasura and the Amri or Abutenga have 

 been given to the library at the India House ; and I shall here describe the 

 latter, to show how well it agrees with the figure in Plukenet. 



Arbuscula ramulis teretibus pubescentibus. Folia austera, alterna, ovalia, 



utrinque obtusa, basi aliquando retuso subcordata, integerrima, costata, 



venis reticulata, utrinque pubescentia. Petiolus brevissimus, pubescens. 



Stipulx geminse, laterales, caducee, lineares, acutse, petiolo longiores. 

 Flares diceci, herbacei. Masc. PeduncuU communes axillares vel terminales, 



solitarii, brevissimi, axillari saepius bifido, terminali trifido. Spicoi fili- 



formes, folio longiores. Flares sparsi. 

 Calyx minimus, hirsutus, 4 — 6-partitus. Glandulce in calycis fundo laciniis 



numero sequales, hirsutse, crassse, minimse. Filamenta totidem glandulis 



alterna, longissima. Antheraj bilobae, apice dehiscentes. Rudimentum 



germinis in calycis fundo. 

 Foem. Racemi axillares simplices, vel terminales ramosi, folio breviores, erecti, 



pubescentes. Pedicelli sparsi, solitarii, uniflori, brevissimi. Bractea ad 



pedicelli basin minuta. 

 Calyx concavus, ore obsolete quinquedentato minimus. Germen superum, 



ovatum, compressum. Stylus vix uUus. Stigmata (4 — 6) saepius quinque, 



acuta, simplicia. 



