JACK'S LETTERS TO WALLICH, 1 819-1821. 203 



I found here some of your former dispatches which had not 

 appeared on my leaving this, particularly the valuable one by 

 Mr. Stuart. Only one of the series appears to he totally missing, 

 that of March 1819. per Brig Tagus. of which not a trace, and 

 what is provoking, it probably contained a portion of Boxburglr's 

 mss. as I find the part from "Polygonum lanatum " to ''Cassia 

 inermis " wanting.-" 1 Pray make some inquiry respecting its pro- 

 bable fate, and if lost — the writer may as well supply it. I wanted 

 to have referred to it lately in examining a species of Laurus, called 

 by the Malays Kayu Gadis. or the virgin tree. 202 which name I 

 find subjoined in the catalogue to Boxb.'s L. porrecta. Why the 

 devil did you give it that specific name : I can hardly think of 

 letting it stand, when a much more elegant one might be given in 

 allusion to the native appellation. Let it henceforth be called 

 Laurus virgo. or Laurus Parthenoxylon. alias the Virgin Laurel. 

 Which do you approve? It yields an oil much valued by the 

 natives, and having a balsamic smell somewhat resembling Capivi. 



Watson arrived not long after us. but. prop, dolor ! brought 

 nothing from you. I hear however that another vessel is to follow, 

 by which I may have your dispatches. 



Xow I have a grand affair to inform you of. nothing less than 

 specimens of the gigantic flower of Sumatra. Eafflesia Titan:' 203 

 Quid dicis? Marsden 204 in a letter to Sir Stamford, proposes 

 EafHesia elephantina. Query, which ?. I must send you a pencil 

 outline of its fructification, in which respect it appears to be as 

 singular and unique as in size. It is no Aselepiad. as was at first 

 guessed, nor does it appear to belong to any known Natural family. 

 It is Polyandrous or rather Gynandrous. The anthers are large 

 spherical bodies, sessile and lodged in hollows under and covered 

 by'the lower and projecting edge of the stigma. They are of a 



201. See notes Xo. 37 and 119. 



2u2. Cinnamomum Parthenoxylon, Meissn. The wood .at all stages 

 lias a strong smell as of Citronella oil, not of Camphor, though Kurz 

 called it Martaban Camphor-wood. The seed yields an oil used for rheu- 

 matism. Marsden. History of Sumatra, at p. 162 of the third edition, 

 mentions it as having wood smelling of Sassafras. The tree is found in the 

 Malay islands and Peninsula and as far north as the Yang-tze-Kiang valley 

 in China. 



2o:3. Eafflesia Arnoldi. Flowers of this strange parasite were ob- 

 tained in 1818, and a figure from one of them may be seen in the Memoir 

 of Sir T. S. Baffles, opposite p. 316. In a letter later (vide p. 208) Jack 

 says that it had proved to be not uncommon. He described it in detail for 

 publication in the Malayan Miscellanies, under the name of Eaffiesia Titan, 

 but held up his description pending news from Europe. Sir William Hooker 

 in 1835 published that description. 



201. William Marsden (1751-1836), for eight years (1771-1779) resi- 

 dent in Bencoolen; after which in 1783 he published his History of 

 Sumatra, wherein the care and fidelity exhibited made his reputation. The 

 History went through editions in 1781 (second), and 1S11 (third), each of 

 which received the author's careful attention. 



Marsden and Baffles had been in correspondence from 1805. 



R. A. Soc, No. 73, 1916. 



