250 Dr. Francis Hamilton's Commentary 



or Bella 3Iodagani, and therefore, probably, from the Lobelia Taccada of 

 Gsertner, whicli, perhaps, is the Tahkada of the elder Burman, and probably 

 the plant figured by Herman {Fl. Zei/l. 313.). 



Willdenow quotes no new authority for the Sccevola Koenigii but Vahl and 

 Lamarck ; and his Sccevola Lobelia comprehends the Lobelia of the Flora Zey- 

 lanica (313.), the Buglossum Utoreum, the Takkada of Ceylon, if that be dif- 

 ferent, and the American plant figured both by Plumier and Lamarck ; nor is 

 it possible to say which he meant. What is more to our present purpose, he 

 leaves out the Bella Modagam, from which we may infer, that he considered it 

 different from these above mentioned ; and the same inference may be drawn 

 from M. Poiret's silence {Enc. M^th. vii. 145.). 



Finally, this latter botanist concluded (Enc. Mdth. Suppl. v. 278.) that the 

 Sccevola Lobelia of Linnaeus, meaning the Lobelia of Plumier, although nearly 

 allied to the Takkada of Ceylon, is a different species ; and that the Takkada 

 of Ceylon is that of Gsertner, and is the same with the Bella Modagam and 

 Buglossum Utoreum. To the latter opinion 1 have no objection ; but I have 

 already stated reasons for thinking that the Bella Modagam is different. It 

 would thus, I think, appear that we have at least three Indian Scaevolas that 

 have been confounded together, and continue to be so in the best authorities. 



1. Takkada frutex Zeylonensium. Pluk. Aim. 321. 



Arbor exitiosa, marina, lactescens, Indica, Taccada vocata, fructu Cerasi 



magnitudine, incarnate, striato. Btirm. Thes. Zeyl. 29. 

 Buglossum litoreum. Herb. Amb. iv. 116. t. 54. 



Lobelia frutescens, foliis ovali-oblongis integerrimis. Linn. Fl. Zeyl. 313. 

 Lobelia Plumieri. Burm. Fl. Ind. 186. 

 Lobelia Taccada. Gcertn. De Sem. i. 119. t. 2b. f. 5. 

 ScjEVola Taccada. Hort. Beng. 13. 



It is by no means yet certain that the Buglossum litoreum is exactly the 

 same with the Takkada of Ceylon, although both are maritime plants. 



2. Scaevola Lobelia. Linn. Herb, ex auctoritate R. Brown. 



Scsevola Koenigii. Lamarck, III. Gen. ii. 70. t. 124./. 2., a. Brown, Proclr. 

 Fl. Nov. Holl. i. 583. ffllld. Sp. PI. i. 956. 



