History of Ceylon Botany. 371 



since its collection. A considerable proportion of the plants (about 

 fifty) are exotics, and gathered, doubtless, from gardens. It is of 

 interest to see at what an early date many of these were already 

 common in Ceylon. Most are, of course, Old World plants, but 

 a dozen or more are of American origin, as the Custard Apple, 

 Guava, Cashew-nut, Capsicum, and Cotton. But, besides these 

 cultivated exotics, the list will be found to contain two or three 

 species from the Cape.' Of these errors, arising from Sherard's 

 fourth volume, those originally ' non-agglutinatas,' he specifies 

 Linnaeus's Bobartia indica, which is B. spathacea, Ker, and 

 Gnaphalium indicum, L., which is Amphidoxa gnaphalodes, DC. 



Carl von Xiinn£. As stated under the notice of Hermann's life 

 and labours (ante, p. 370), the herbarium and collections of drawings 

 of the latter were sent to Linnaeus to be named. The great botanist 

 was not long in discovering what a treasure he had in his hands.* 

 In his own words, ' Hanc dum evolvo, examino et inquiro, observo 

 plantas hasce per tres primos tomos, in singulis paginis totidem, 

 easdem, eodemque ordini esse dispositas, quo in Hermanni ' Museo 

 Zeylanico ' continentur a p. 1 ad 39 ; accedebat quod Icones, quas 

 quintus tomus continet, essent ipsius Hermanni . . . . ut dubium 

 nullum sit, quin haec collectio fuerit ipsissima Hermanni. Quartus 

 tomus continebat plantas Capenses et Zeylanicas mixtas ' f — Sherard's 

 ' non agglutinatae ' in fact. The delight with which Linnaeus at once 

 set to work at the examination of his treasure is well expressed in 

 the following passage from his dedication of the ' Flora Zeylanica ' 

 to Giinther : ' Gratulor orbi erudito, quod hie Thesaurus, qui per 

 50 annos fuerat suppressus, indignorum manibus versatus, & in 

 Barbarorum hominum scriniis sepultus, rerum vicissitudine iterum 

 emerserit & ab interitu fuerit vindicatus. Est hoc opus Herbarium 

 Zeylanicum, quondam a Principe Botanicorum, Paulo Hermanno, 

 lectum in Zeylona multis itineribus, periculis, laboribus, curis, nee 

 sine Fcederati Belgii maximis sumtibus.'J 



The 'Flora' was published at Stockholm, § in 1747, its full title 

 being 'Flora Zeylanica sistens plantas indicas Zeylonse insula? quas 

 olim 1670-1677 lectse fuere a Paulo Hermanno, Prof. Bot. Leydensi; 

 demum post 70 annos ab Augusto Giinthero, Pharmacop. Haffniensi, 

 orbi redditse,' Holmjae, 1747, 8vo, pp. 28, 240, and 20 pp. of index, 

 with 4 folding plates. In it ' Linnaeus has classified all the plants in 

 the herbarium which he could determine (429 in number) under 

 their genera; and these are duly arranged in accordance with his 

 sexual system. Under each species he refers to the names in the 

 "Musaeum," and at the end he gives lists of those names (228 in 

 number) which he was unable (in nearly all cases from the absence 



* Trimen, 'Journ. Linn. Soc' (Bot.), xxiv. p. 129. 

 + ' Flora Zeylanica,' preface, pp. 17, 18. 

 J Id., dedication. 



§ Not at Amsterdam, as stated by Mr. Jackson, ' Guide to the Literature of 

 Botany, ' p. 395. 



