FLOWERING PLANTS. 391 



any flowers in our country? whether they were 

 to feed animals ? and the insects for birds on 

 board the ship ? but when at last they were in- 

 formed I was a " curer of diseases," they re- 

 mained perfectly satisfied that I collected them 

 for medicinal purposes, and without making 

 another inquiry on the subject, resumed their 

 almost perpetual conversation on the Areka or 

 betel-nut. On the way the rajah gathered a 

 plant, (Chenopodium family ?) and giving it to 

 me, said it was medicinal, and called by the Ma- 

 lays "Gunche, maju," (signifying shirt-buttons,) 

 and the name was probably applied to it from the 

 elevated buds having some resemblance to them. 

 The plant is used by the natives in the form of 

 decoction, as an internal remedy for various 

 diseases ; and, as far as I could understand them, 

 was possessed of emetic properties. It is a small 

 plant, and grows abundantly on the banks of 

 the Paddy fields, and on most of the waste land 

 about the village. 



Among a profusion of other flowering shrubs 

 and plants was the Cassia occidentalism (Bandram 

 of the natives,) several species of Solanwn; the 

 pretty Vinca rosea, or rose periwinkle. Datura 

 fastuosa, the fruit of which the natives told me 

 would cause madness if eaten ; it was named by 

 tliem Tropungo ; several species of Co7ivolvoli ; 



