( 1° ) 



O N 



THE PLANT MORINDA, 



AND 



ITS USES. 



BY WILLIAM HUNTER, ESQ. 



\ LTHOUGH the plant, which is the subject of 

 this essay, be not a new species, yet, as it is 

 cultivated to a great extent in MaJava % and forms an 

 important branch of the commerce of that province, I 

 hope a particular description of it, with some account 

 of its culture and use, will not be unacceptable to the 

 Asiatic Society. 



It is the Morinda of Linnaeus : It belongs to the 

 order Pentandria Monogymia in his system, and is re- 

 ferred by him to the natural order of Awrezatte. 

 Here (though it may seem a digression from the 

 subject) I cannot help observing, that Linnjeus is 

 not altogether consistent in the distinction, which he 

 endeavours to establish, between the aggregate (pro- 

 perly so called) and the compound flowers. In his 

 Philosophia Bota?iica y § i 1 6. he defines a compound 

 flower to be " that which has a broad entire re- 

 " ceptacle, and sessile florets ;" and an aggregate 

 flower, iC that which has a broad receptacle, and 

 florets supported on peduncles." According to these 

 definitions, the Morinda ought to be placed among the 

 compound flowers; but in the following section, Lin- 



