on the Hortus Malaharicus, Part III. 123 



is an exotic, and not common any where that I have seen. 

 From the name given to it by the Brahmans of IMahibar it 

 would appear to have come from Malacca. 



Neli Pouli sen Bilimbi altera minor, p. 51. tab. 47, 4:8. 



The Malabar generic name is Pouli ; and Neli, prefixed as a 

 specific appellation, implies a resemblance to the Neli or P/u/l- 

 lanthiis Emblicn of Linnœus, a more just and striking compa- 

 rison than European naturalists for a long time pointed out ; for 

 they copied the error of Rlieede in considering it as of the same 

 genus with the Bilimbi. Pouli, as a generic name, seems also 

 to be used in the Carca-puli, which is mentioned in the first 

 part of the Hortus Malabaricus, p. 42, as belonging to what is 

 now called an Oxi/carpus. The chief resemblance here is, 

 that the fruits of the two trees are nearly of the same size, 

 colour, and taste. Rheede's classing it Avith the Bilimbi is very 

 little if at all better. The name Anwallis, which he says is used 

 by the Brahmans of INIalabar, is probably derived from the 

 Arabic Ambela (for the tree is no doubt an exotic in India Pro- 

 per), and was probably introduced from the Eastern islands by 

 the Arabs of IMalabar, who traded to that quarter long before 

 the arrival of Europeans. 



Plukenet {Aim. 45.) thought that the Neli Pouli might be his 

 Aibor Malabarica Fraxini fer è folio, ossiculo fructus octongulari 

 {Phyt. t. 269. f. -.), which would appear to be a Bradleja, and 

 therefore to be at least of the same natural order ; but it cer- 

 tainly is a difterent plant : and he is the less excusable in this 

 error, because he had described the real Neli Pouli under the 

 name of Cheramei A cost œ folio Pijri (Mant. 45.), a name that had 

 been given to it by John Bauliin. 



Rumphius {Herb. Amb. vii. 33. t. 17.) gives an excellent ac- 

 count of the tree under the name Cheramela, but does not class 



K 2 it 



