22 Dr Wight on the Laurus Cassia of Linnceus. 



shall, might have long remained undetected. In Herman's 

 herbarium of Ceylon plants, he (Linngeus) found one bearing 

 the native names of " Dawalkurundu Nikadav\^ala," under 

 which, it is referred to, or described in Herman's Musseum 

 Zeylanicum. This he considered a species of Laurus, ap- 

 parently from habit alone, and in his usual brief precise style, 

 calls it, Laurus foliis lanceolatis trinerviis, nervis supra basin 

 unitis ; having previously called the true cinnamon, " Laurus 

 foliis ovato-oblongis trinerviis, basi nervis unientibus," The 

 difference between the two, as indicated by the names, seems 

 very slight, merely depending on the one having lanceolate 

 leaves with nerves united above the base ; Avhile in the other 

 the leaves are said to be ovate-oblong with the nerves dis- 

 tinct to the base, differences small indeed, and such as could 

 never be found of much avail in distinguishing the one plant 

 from the other, since the}'^ are both constantly met with in 

 different leaves on the same tree. Such being the case, it is 

 not much to be wondered at, that botanists should have been 

 surprised by the boldness of Mr Marshall's announcement, 

 that two trees, believed to be of the same genus, and so near- 

 ly alike in their external forms, should yet differ so very 

 widely in their properties. But so it is, and nothing can be 

 more certain than that the fact is as he states it. 



In proceeding to trace the history of the two species, aided 

 by the light Mr Marshall has thrown on them, our difficulties 

 vanish like mist before the noon-day sun, though Mr M. him- 

 self has found it " difficult to conceive how the Dawalkurundu 

 obtained the appellation of Laurus Cassia from Linnaeus." It 

 was because LinnsKus's specimen of Dawalkurundu was neither 

 in flower nor in fruit. Had it been so, he was too acute an 

 observer ever to have confounded it with the plants with 

 which he has associated it ii> his synonyms. This explana- 

 tion, it may be answered, is mere assumption on my part : it 

 certainly is so, but supported by so strong circumstantial evi- 

 dence, as not to leave a doubt of its correctness. Linnaeus 

 has, in his Flora Zeylanica, given a short description of each 

 of these species : his description of the cinnamon is principally 

 confined to the flower, and is most precise. In his description 

 of the other, the flower is not once alluded to. Here he de- 



