134 BOTANY OF INDIA. 



" Delight of the world, beloved chandana, stay no longer in 

 this forest, which is overspread with rigid, pernicious 

 vans'as, whose hearts are unsound, and who being them- 

 selves confounded in the scorching stream of flames kindled 

 by their mutual attrition, will consume, not their own fami- 

 lies merely, but this whole wood." 



EOSACE^. 



Most of the plants belonging to this beautiful family are 

 found in the temperate and cold climates of the northern 

 hemisphere. In the West Indies only one solitary repre- 

 sentative occurs, the Rubus Jamakensis. In the East 

 Indies, however, we find a richer flora,— the high lands of 

 even the tropical part producing, according to Lindley, 

 twelve species of Rubus. Dr. Wallich's catalogue contains 

 an enumeration of sixteen different kinds of Rosa ; twenty- 

 seven Rubi ; two species of Neillia ; ten of Spiraa ; three 

 of Geum ; twenty-two of PotentiUa, one only of which 

 belongs to tropical India, &c. Were we to include in this 

 family the pomace.e, considered by Lindley as distinct from 

 the true rosace^,* we should be able to reckon in the Indian 

 flora seven species of Pyrus (pear) ; eight of Cotoncastcr ; 

 two of Eriobotrys ; five of Photinia, &c. And among the 

 AMYODALK.'E, also a distinct family, according to the same 

 author.t ten species of Ccrasus (cherry) ; one of Amygdalus, 

 &c. From the petals of Rosa Daniasccna is obtained tnat 

 exquisite Indian perfume, attar of roses. This it is not 

 unusual to adulterate, by adding raspings of sandal-wood 

 during the process of distillation, or (as in Cashmere) the 

 leaves' of a sweet-scented grass. It is worthy of remark 

 that genuine attar is of no peculiar colour. The same 

 roses gathered on different days, but growing on the same 

 piece of ground, and treated in the same way, yielding 

 attar of an emerald-green, a bright yellow, and of a reddish 

 hue. 



LEGUMINOS-^. 



We have already had occasion to notice how large a 

 number of these plants are produced in British India. We 



* Linnfpan Transactions, vol. xiii. ]). 93. 



t Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p. 84. 



