Feb. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



ON THE BOTANICAL ORIGIN OP GAMBOGE. 311 



Cambogia ; and we have it, on the authority of Mr. Thwaites, Director 

 of the Royal Botanic Garden of Peradenia, that the former is capable of 

 affording a very good form of the drug, but that such is not the ease 

 with the latter. It is, however, well-known that gamboge is not an ex- 

 port of Ceylon, but that it is a production of Siam, a country which is 

 still nearly unexplored by the botanist. Whether gamboge in Siam was 

 yielded by the same tree as that which affords it in Ceylon, was a ques- 

 tion which could only be settled by a careful examination of good 

 botanical specimens. 



Some years ago Dr. Christison, of Edinburgh, received from Singa- 

 pore specimens of a Garcinia cultivated there on the estate of Messrs. 

 D' Almeida and Sons, which Garcinia had been brought from Siam as 

 the true gamboge-tree. Dr. Christison, whose account appeared in the 

 1 Pharmaceutical Journal' for November, 1850, found this plant to be 

 nearly allied to the G. elliptica of Wallich, but to differ from that species 

 in having male flowers pedicellate, instead of sessile. Desirous of cann- 

 ing the inquiry a little further, and of attempting to set at rest the 

 question of the origin of gamboge, I recently addressed myself to Messrs. 

 D' Almeida, who promptly replied to my letter, and forwarded a jar 

 containing numerous specimens of the gamboge-tree cultivated on their 

 plantation at Singapore. These specimens I carefully examined, com- 

 paring them with published descriptions and figures, as well as with 

 specimens contained in the herbaria of the British Museum, of the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew, and of the Linnean Society, in which investiga- 

 tion I had the valuable assistance of my friend Professor Oliver. The 

 correctness of Dr. Christison's observation respecting the pedicellate 

 flowers was immediately obvious, and it was also evident that the plant, 

 but for this character, bore a strong resemblance to Garcinia elliptica ; 

 we noticed further that it came equally near to the G. Morella of 

 Desrousseaux. Under these circumstances we thought it desirable to 

 obtain the opinion of Mr. Thwaites, who, besides being an excellent 

 botanist, was familiar with various species of Garcinia in a living state, 

 and especially with G. Morella. Mr. Thwaites, after examining speci- 

 mens of the Singapore gamboge-tree, which we had sent to him in 

 Ceylon, replied that the plant was, in his opinion, a form of G. Morella, 

 scarcely differing from the Ceylon type, except in having pedicellate 

 instead of sessile flowers. This opinion was completely in accordance 

 with that of Professor Oliver and other botanists whose opinion I had 

 asked, and I therefore felt warranted in bringing the plant before the 

 Linnean Society, in whose ' Transactions ' a figure of it has been pub- 

 lished, under the following name and synonyms : — 



Garcinia Morella, Desrouss., var. pedicellata. 



G. Morella, Desrousseaux, in Lamarck's Encyclop. Method. Botan. 



iii. 701, pi. 405, fig. 2 ; Thwaites, Enum. Plant. Zeylan. i. 49. 

 G. elliptica, Wallich, Catal. no. 4869. 



TOL. V. N N 



