GARCINIA AFFORDING GAMBOGE IN SI AM. 327 



imagined that from its acridity gamboge must be produced by 



some eupborbiaceous plant, we find that Hermann announced, Botanical 



in the year 1677, 1 that the drug was derived from two trees of On g m - 



Ceylon, now ascertained to belong to the order Guttifercc, one 



of which is known to modern botanists as the Garcinia Cam- 



logia of Desrousseaux, the other being in all probability the G. 



Morella of the same author. Starting from this point, it would 



seem, remarks M. Guibourt, that each attempt to diffuse more 



precise and correct information upon this subject has effected the 



contrary result. I may therefore excuse myself from attempting 



an explanation of the confusion and intricate synonymy in 



which the writers of the Linnean period have involved the sub- 



ject, and state at once that, although it has been well ascertained 



that one species of Garcinia occurring in Ceylon 2 and others in 



continental India are capable of yielding gamboge, it is equally 



clear that the whole of the drug found in European commerce 



is produced in Siam or in regions contiguous to that country. 



Siam, however, is still unexplored by the botanist ; but the gam- 



boge-tree has been transported thence to Singapore, and many 



specimens of it, cultivated as objects of curiosity, have for some 



years past been flourishing on the estate of Messrs. Jose D'Al- 



meida and Sons, of that island. From some of these trees speci- 



mens were obtained a few years ago, and transmitted to Pro- 



fessor Christison, who published an account of them in the 



Proceedings of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh? Professor 



Christison has stated that the tree is nearly allied to Garcinia 



elliptica, Wallich, but that it differs from that species in having 



the male flowers pedicellate instead of sessile. From want of 



specimens, it appears that Professor Christison did not complete 



his investigation, at any rate so far as to publish any definition 



of the plant in question. In the Koyal Botanical Garden of 



Edinburgh there has been, until recently, a living specimen of 



1 Rheede Hortus Malabaricus, pt. 1, p. 42. Hermann had resided in Ceylon. 



2 " This [Garcinia Morella, Desrouss.] is the only species growing in 

 Ceylon from which gamboge is obtainable ; and, as the tree is not uncommon, 

 the pigment might be collected in considerable quantities." THWAITES, 

 Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylanice, p. 49. 



3 Vol. ii. (1851) p. 363 ; Pharm, Journ. and Trans., vol. x. p. 235. 



