TAMARICACE^:. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 126. 



TAMARIX. 



Sepals 5, distinct. Petals 4-5. Stamens 4-10, equal, inserted 

 each on and connecting 2 of the teeth of the disk, distinct with- 

 out any intermediate gland or membrane. Disk fleshy, scu- 

 telliform, supporting the ovary, with twice as many teeth on the 

 margin as there are stamens. Styles 2-4, usually 3. Seeds 

 not beaked, with a simple pappus-like coma at their extremity. 



Flower-bearing branchlets, usually arranged in panicles. 

 W.andA. 



422. T. gallica Linn. sp. pi. 386. Ehrenb. in Linn. ii. 266. 

 DC. prodr. iii. 96. T. indica Willd. act. berol. 1812-1813. 

 No. 5. DC. prodr. iii. 96. T. epacroides Smith in^Reess Cyclop. 



Banks and beds of torrents, or sandy islands in large rivers 

 along the basin of the Mediterranean, through Egypt and Pale- 

 stine to Bengal. 



A shrub or large tree, from 6-12 feet high. Branches numerous, 

 slender, erect, gracefully drooping, bright brown, quite smooth. Leaves 

 minute, sessile, smooth, pressed close to the branches. Flowers small, 

 pink or nearly white, in terminal drooping racemose panicles. Stamens 

 5. Disk 10-toothed. Styles 3, rather long. Capsules tapering. 

 From this species is collected in the vicinity of Sinai, an abundance of a 

 white sweet gummy substance, resembling Manna, which however is said 

 to contain no Mannite, but chiefly to consist of pure mucilaginous sugar. 

 Ehrenberg considers it as an exudation produced by a species of Coccus 

 (manniparus) which inhabits the tree, and this is confirmed by Mr. 

 Malcolmson, who in a note I received from him some time since ob- 

 serves that the Persian manna known by the name of " gen," is formed 

 by an insect in that way, and is not found on the upper branches or 

 leaves, but only on the larger branches covered by those minute 

 insects, and none is formed near wounds or cracks in the bark. This was 

 particularly observed by Colonel Frederick in Persia, in a latitude not 

 much south of Mount Sinai, and his account corresponds with that of 

 a traveller who saw it in the same country both on a Tamarisk and 

 on the small oak of Kermanshaw. 



It is remarkable that the secretion should be unknown in Egypt and 

 Arabia, where the T. gallica would seem to be common. Forskahl, who 

 says it is the Tarfa of the Arabs, takes no notice of any manna being 

 produced by it, and Mr. Malcolmson informs me that he could gain no 

 intelligence of manna being produced by the Tamarisk in any of the 

 south and west coasts of Arabia and Upper Egypt. He observed the 

 trees frequently secreting salt, but not sugar. I must however add, 

 203 



