1847.] On the Gamboge of the Tenasserim Provinces. 663 



on his list of " species imperfectly known." The foliation and female 

 flowers are however, very well described, and to complete the descrip- 

 tion, I may add the male flowers are pedunculated, but the peduncles 

 are shut, and they might be characterized as sub-sessile. The anthers, 

 like those of the female flowers, are sessile, depressed or flattened 

 above, and dehisce circularly. The ripe fruit is globose, and not furrow- 

 ed. As I send along with this paper specimens of both the male and 

 female flowers, any of your botanists will be able to correct me at a 

 glance, if I be in error. 



Neither Wallich, Wight, nor Griffiths appear to have been at all 

 aware that this species produces Gamboge. Dr. Wight, in a recent 

 number of his Neilgherry plants says, " Two species of the genus Gar- 

 cinia are known to produce Gamboge, most of the others yield a yel- 

 low juice, but not Gamboge, as it will not mix with water." The spe- 

 cies which he has described as producing Gamboge, and to which I 

 suppose he refers, are G. Gutta or H. Cambogioides, (Graham,) and 

 G. Pictoria, (Roxburgh.) That others may be enabled to judge of the 

 character of the Gamboge produced by this tree, I have the pleasure to 

 send specimens of its exudation. In its appearance to the eye, and 

 in its properties as a pigment, I have failed to discover the slightest 

 difference between it and the Gamboge of commerce. It serves equally 

 well to color drawings, the Burmese priests often use it to color their 

 garments and the Karens to dye their thread. It is also used by the 

 native doctors in medicine, but I think not extensively. Dr. Lindley, 

 in his new work the " Vegetable Kingdom" says: — " The best Gam- 

 boge comes in the form of pipes from Siam, and this is conjectured to 

 be the produce of Garcinia Cochinchinensis." As G. elliptica is spread 

 all over the Province of Mergui, is it not probable that it extends into 

 Siam, and that the Siamese Gamboge is the produce, a part at least, of 

 this tree ? 



There are several other species of Garcinia indigenous to the Pro- 

 vinces, but I know of no others producing any thing resembling Gam- 

 boge, except G. Cambogia ; the exhudation of which, though it will not 

 dissolve in water, dissolves in spirits of turpentine and forms a very 

 beautiful yellow varnish for tin and other metalic surfaces. 



1 R 



