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XXIII. On the Species of Garcinia p ich affords Gamboge in Siam. 
By DANIEL HANBURY, Esq., F.L.S. 
(Plate L.) 
Read April 7th, 1864. 
MORE than two centuries and a half have elapsed since one of the old Dutch voyagers, 
returning from an expedition to India, brought to the notice of his learned countrymen 
a gum-like substance of an orange colour, to which various important medicinal properties 
were ascribed. This was the first introduction to Europe of gamboge, a production 
which, from that time to the present, has been an article of import. But, like many 
other substances having technical uses, its precise place of production long remained 
unknown, while its botanical origin has up to the present time not been exactly deter- 
mined. The object of the present communication is to lay before the Linnean Society 
some information lately gathered illustrating this latter point. 
The whole history of gamboge, including the various opinions that have been enter- 
tained as to its source, and the facts that have been made out during two centuries 
respecting it, having been admirably told by the learned French pharmacologist, Pro- 
fessor Guibourt, and a résumé of them having been given by Drs. Planchon and Triana, in 
their recent * Mémoire sur la Famille des Guttiféres’ (p. 196), it would savour of plagiarism 
here to repeat it. I shall therefore content myself with referring to these writers, and 
simply state those points touching the origin of this drug which it is desirable to bear in 
mind on the present occasion. 
Passing over the supposition of Clusius and Bontius, who imagined that, from its 
acridity, gamboge must be produced by some euphorbiaceous plant, we find that Hermann 
announced, in the year 1677*, that the drug was derived from two trees of Ceylon, now 
ascertained to belong to the order Guttifere, one of which is known to modern botanists 
as the Garcinia Cambogia 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 subject, and state at once that, although it has 
been well ascertained that one species of Garcinia occurring in Ceylont 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 
* Rheede, * Hortus Malabaricus,’ pt. 1, p. 42. Hermann had resided in Ceylon. 
t “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 Zeylania,’ p. 49. 
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