4t4 Lieut. -Col. Madden o?i some Plants 



Catalopie, No. 1217. Ca/Z/ia? Bisinia. Bislima vol Bikhma, 

 Hamilton's Nepal, 9!). Habitat inter nivcs Mniodi. 



1218. C'(i/t/ia? Nirbisia. Nirbishi vel Niihikhi. Ham. Ne- 

 pal, 1)9. Habitat cum praecedente. Montanorum unus hanc 

 pro radice indica toxicaria ostendcbat, alter autcm sequentem 

 affcrebat. Florcs non vidi. 



12 19. Ca/f/ia ? Cudoa. (No specimen.) Kodoya Bish vel Bikb, 

 Hamilton's Nepal, 99. Habitat cum duabus pnecedentibus. 

 Credo banc esse revcram Toxicariam Indorum radicem. Flores 

 non vidi. 



In Brewster's Edinburgb Journal of Science, i. 249—251, 

 "On the Herba Toxicaria," Dr. Hamilton informs us tbat 

 his specimens were collected in July 1810, near the sources of 

 the Kosi River, and therefore necessarily quite immature; still 

 it is surprising that he should have referred them, even doubt- 

 fully, to Caltlia, to which they bear no resemblance. In the 

 very short account in the Journal last mentioned, founded pro- 

 bably on the specimens before us, he says of Caltha Bisinia, 

 "The Bikhma is used in medicine, and is a strong bitter, very 

 powerful in the cure of fevers*." Caltha Nirbisia " has no dele- 

 terious qualities," wliile Caltha Codoa includes Bish and Kodoya 

 Bish. Dr. Walliehf showed that all these specimens belong to 

 Aconitum : his 1723, A. jjalmatum, being Cullha ? Bishma, H. 

 Ham.; and 4721, A. ferox, including Caltha"^. Nirbisia and 

 C? Codoa, H. Ham. 



It would be impossible to unravel this complication without 

 a visit to Nepal ; but perhaps some additional light may be 

 thrown on the subject by eliminating the known from the un- 

 known, and rejecting the specimens as misnamed. Dr. Hamil- 

 ton (p. 98) expressly says there are "four different plants." 

 We know that the Bish J proper is Aconitum ferox. Kodoya 



* So in the Account of Nei)al, p. 9f). 



t He left occasion for additional criticism. The description oi A. ferox 

 in the ' PI. As. liar.' is full and interesting, pp. 35-3!) ; but the plate (t. 41) 

 and specimen 4721 A. belong to A. dissectum, Don's Prod. 197. A. ferox 

 flourishes at from 11,000 to l.'3,000 feet; it has beautiful deep-blue flowers 

 in August and September, and is described and figured h\ Dr. Balfour and 

 Mr. M'Nab in the Ed. New Phil. Journal, October 1S49, ])iate 5, from 

 plants which first flowered that autumn in our Horticultural Garden. A. 

 multifidum is abundant at from 12,000 to 14,500 feet; A. palmatum grows 

 at Nagkhanda near Simla in forests at 8500 to 9500 feet, and flowers from 

 May to July; A. heterophylluni at from 8500 to l.':i,000 feet. 



X The iarm vish, Sanscrit, denotes 'poison' simply, and is from the 

 same root as vishnu, ' penetrating, per\'ading.' In the mountains and the 

 north-west j)rovinces it is [)ronounced Bikh; in Behar and Bengal, Bish; 

 but there is no difference in the original word. Narbishi means ' not poi- 

 sonous,' a term from which Don (General System of Gardening, i. 63) 

 forms his genus Nirbisia to include two deadly Aconites and an innocent 

 Delphinium, — as uncalled-for therefore in botany as it is false in etymology. 



