188 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



and Cochin-China, and that it spread into India perhaps 

 towards the beginning of the Christian era. It may have 

 become naturalized from cultivation in many parts of 

 India and in all tropical countries, but we have seen that 

 the seed does not always yield trees bearing sweet fruit. 

 This defect in heredity in certain cases is in support of 

 the theory that the sweet orange was derived from the 

 bitter, at some remote epoch, in China or Cochin-China, 

 and has since been carefully propagated on account of 

 its horticultural value. 



Mandarin Citrus nobilis, Loureiro. 



This species, characterized by its smaller fruit, uneven 

 on the surface, spherical, but flattened at the top, and of 

 a peculiar flavour, is now prized in Europe as it has been 

 from the earliest times in China and Cochin-China. 

 The Chinese call it kan. 1 Rumphius had seen it culti- 

 vated in all the Sunda Islands, 2 and says that it was 

 introduced thither from China, but it had not spread into 

 India. Roxburgh and Sir Joseph Hooker do not mention 

 it, but Clarke informs me that its culture has been 

 greatly extended in the district of Khasia. It was new 

 to European gardens at the beginning of the present 

 century, when Andrews published a good illustration of 

 it in the Botanist's Repository (pi. 608). 



According to Loureiro, 3 this tree, of average size, 

 grows in Cochin-China, and also, he adds, in China, 

 although he had not seen it in Canton. This is not very 

 precise information as to its wild character, but no other 

 origin can be supposed. According to Kurz, 4 the species 

 is only cultivated in British Burmah. If this is confirmed, 

 its area would be restricted to Cochin-China and a few 

 provinces in China. 



Mangosteen Garcinia mangostancL, Linnaeus. 



There is a good illustration in the Botanical Magazine, 

 pi. 4847, of this tree, belonging to the order Guttiferse, of 

 which the fruit is considered one of the best in existence. 



1 Bretschneider, On the Study and Value, etc., p. 11. 



2 Rumphius, Aniboin., ii. pis. 34, 35, where, however, the form of the 

 fruit is not that of our mandarin. 



8 Loureiro, Fl. Cochin., p. 570. 4 Kurz, Forest Fl. of Brit. Bur. 



