The " Siintara" Oranges. 47 



It resembles the B. chinois, and many consider_it only 

 a variety of the former. In Risso's time a variety of 

 this, marked (a) in his work, was much multiplied in Paris 

 on account of its smallness and beauty (often no larger 

 than represented in the plate). A variety of it existed 

 in Italy, but was still very rare. Risso having given 

 only two plates of this type of orange has some signi- 

 ficance. It was then only recently introduced, and 

 there was little time yet for new varieties to have 

 come into existence from seed. 



The " B. a feuille de myrte" corresponds almost 

 exactly with the Mandarin orange, which has an 

 exterior so shiny that it looks as if it had been var- 

 nished. Risso and Poiteau published their mono- 

 graph at the beginning of the present century. 



Great confusion has arisen from travellers in the 

 East mentioning only a sweet orange that they may 

 have come across. In the " Penny Cyclopaedia " the 

 following occurs : " Captain Turner, in the account of 

 his journey to Teshoo Loomboo, mentions the orange 

 as delicious ; and Mr. Saunders, who accompanied 

 him, describes many orange- and lime trees as found 

 at the foot of the hills in approaching Buxadwar? 

 Alph. de Candolle, at p. 185 of his "Origin of Cul- 

 tivated Plants," repeats this passage, quoting it from 

 Royle's " Illustr. of the Himalayas." 



There is little doubt in my mind that the sweet 

 orange here mentioned by Captain Turner is that of 

 the suntara type, as even up to this day it is grown 

 in those parts in a semi-wild state. 



It would appear that botanists have either over- 

 looked the fact that there existed two types of sweet 

 orange, or may have thought the distinction unim- 

 portant. In truth, neither of them is quite sweet ; 

 but a mixture of more or less sweetness, with more 



