INDIAN PLANTS 407 



'ft. ;€. p. ^8,) having previoufif remarkedj wiih great propriety, 

 thz^: it comes very oear to the Ttda haccijera, I have ventured 

 to quote both thefe plants of RuMPHfus a? fynonymes: becaufe 

 thoogh his defcriptions of their lowers and fruits feem to differs 

 yet they agree perfeiSlly in tother refpeSs and the leaves of the 

 Ihrub which is delcnbed above, varying from almoft orbicalar 

 obtufe to ovate-cordate, more or lefs acute, unite in theoa the 

 charafiers of both thofe plants. 



:Rheed£'s figure of the lea¥es is a pretty exa£l reprefentatlon 

 of thofe Of my plant ; and agrees better with-the defcription in the 

 :Herbarmm Amboinenfe than Rumphius'-s own plates do^ notwith- 

 ilaiiding the remark of this lad mentioned author to the contrary. 



I have not been able to identify this plant with the Sanfcrita 

 jiame of it, Cdcdmuri^ given by Dr. W. Ainslie, in his excellent 

 Materia medica of Rindoojlan^ pag, 81 ; nor have my hopes of fuc- 

 ceeding in tracing the name CocguIus to the Sanfcrita Cdcoli and 

 Kacola been realifed ; one of thefe latter belonging to an innoxious 

 bulbous root, the other to ars aromatic fruit, which certainly is not 

 that of the plant in quedion. My worthy friend, the Revereud 

 Dr. William Carby, informs me that one of h?3 pundits, a na- 

 tive of Malabar^ to whom he Slewed the fruit which i had pro- 

 cured of the Meri'Jpermum^ recognifed it imraediacely as beiog 

 produced m vaft abundance on that coaft, where it is called G^- 

 rala-phala, or the poif^n fruit, alfo Cdcaman, from the circum- 

 ilance of the natives, eipeciaily the Chriftians who, he fays, feed 

 on crows, making ufc of it to kill tiiem. They bruife the frefh 

 or even unripe feeds and mix them with boiled rice into a pafle 

 which is laid about for the crows and infallibly kills all that eats 

 of it. He adds, that a large fruit of another kind, to which the 

 Bame Kdkamari is given, is u fed for the fame parpofe, but only 

 intoxicates the crows, To that they may be eafily taken. I under- 



