108 Dr Wight on the Tree which produces 



tuguese from Ceylon, and formed settlements of their own there, which they 

 retained until near the end of the eighteenth century. Is it at all unreasonable 

 to suppose, that, in the course of that long period, they should endeavour to 

 procure for their own territories a lucrative article of commerce, in place of 

 having to purchase from others all of the finer sorts required for their Eu- 

 ropean trade ? If not, we may readily suppose they imported the plants 

 above referred to, and which have remained unnoticed by the English, until 

 Colonel Walker accidentally discovered them about two years ago, in just such 

 a situation as one might expect to find introduced trees, namely, in a garden 

 close by a Dutch settlement. A most interesting discovery it is, since it 

 seems to prove that they are of exotic origin ; that the soil and climate are 

 suitable for its growth and propagation, and leaves room to infer that it might 

 be introduced with success on the west coast, at least, of India, the climate of 

 which corresponds in many respects with that of the south-west coast of Cey- 

 lon ; and, lastly, because it in part, at least, sets this long-agitated question 

 at rest, by making us acquainted with the probable source of the best gam- 

 boge used in the arts. 



Botanically considered, this plant presents some points of considerable in- 

 terest, which may be the means of directing more of the attention of bota- 

 nists to the peculiarities of the order to which it belongs than it has hitherto 

 received. 



Dr Graham shews that his plant is not a Xanthochymus neither is it a Gar- 

 cinia, and, unless there is an error in the description, that it cannot be a Sta- 

 lagmitis, but that it forms a new genus, essentially characterized by its sta- 

 mens, the filaments of which are united into a single square column, and 

 the anthers one-celled, opening at the apex by a calyptra or lid, in place of 

 two-celled, bursting longitudinally, as in all the other genera of Gutliferae, — 

 characters amply sufficient to separate it from every other genus of the order. 



To the conviction expressed that this new genus is undoubtedly Gartner's 

 Mangostana Morella, I can offer no objection, as I am altogether unacquainted 

 with that plant, except through the figure, and because Dr Graham has not 

 stated the evidence on which he grounds this conclusion ; but if it should 

 prove correct, I must acknowledge it goes far to establish the fact of its being 

 a native of Ceylon, and, consequently, that the juice of it as well as of other 

 trees, may be drawn for gamboge, as that of Garcinia pictoria, lloxb. ; another 

 member of this new genus, is in Malabar. 



Here the question must for the present rest, as it can only be finally decided 

 by reference to authentic specimens of the plant described by the older bo- 

 tanists (who usually paid much attention to useful plants) as the " arbor Indica 

 gummi guttam fundens," and which has now been bandied about from species 

 to species, till it seems to have multiplied itself into about half-a-dozen diffe- 

 rent trees ; but I trust that Ceylon botanists will now be induced to take up 

 the subject in earnest, and ascertain, by actual inspection, and the preserva- 

 tion of specimens, the tree or trees — for there may be several — from which 

 its gamboge is derived, and further to determine whether the trees which 

 have given rise to this fresh agitation of the question are of indigenous or 

 exotic origin — Madras Journal, No. 13, p. 300. 



