342 



The Champaca {Michelia Champaca L.) of the order of Magno- 

 liaceae, is very commonly cultivated by natives for its deliciously 

 scented yellow flowers. It is grown from seed and forms a tree of 

 fairly large size, flowering most of the year abundantly. The oil 

 of Champaca seems to be but seldom distilled. It is indeed very 

 costly (Gildemeister). Its scent is said to resemble that of Acacia 

 Farnesiana, reminding also of violet and ylang-ylang. The tree is 

 very popular with natives, who was fond of putting the flowers in 

 their hair, and there should be no difficulty in procuring enough in 

 a short time for extraction of the oil, should the demand be great 

 enough. The white Champaca, is more floriferous and the flowers 

 more strongly scented. It is the Michelia longifolia, Bl. Accord- 

 ing to Gildermeister the oil is very volatile and is scented like Basil. 



Aglaia odorata Lour. — Is a small bushy tree commonly grown 

 in our Gardens and introduced from China. It has small dark green 

 leaves, and panicles of very small yellow fragrant flowers. 'J hese 

 flowers are used by the Chinese for scenting tea and in the com- 

 position of Joss-sticks. The oil seems never to have been prepared 

 but it could probably be extracted by maceration or enfleurage, as 

 suggested in Sawer's Odorographia. The scent is very sweet and 

 delicious. 



There are a number of other sweet scented flowers which might 

 be obtained here in sufficient quantity to be used in extracting the 

 perfumes or which could be readily cultivated for the purpose. 

 Such are the Frangipani, [Plamiera) the Bunga Tanjong (Mz- 

 tnusops Ele?jgi), the Tonkin creeper, {Pergulai ia), the Betel nut 

 (Afeca Catechu), Pandanus, and the tuberose. 



H. N. R. 



BRUCEA SUMATRANA. 



The interest in this new drug mentioned in Bulletin No. 3, p. 122, 

 has by no means abated, and applications for its seeds still come 

 from Europe and elsewhere. An important article quoted below 

 on its use and properties has been published by E. MERCK, of 

 Darmstadt in his Annual Report, and I take this opportunity of 

 giving a full account of the plant : 



Brucea Sumatrana, Roxb. is a small shrub belonging to the 

 order Simarubece. It attains the height of about 6 or 8 feet with 

 long slender white-barked stems, when grown in shade, grown in 

 the open and pruned back it becomes more bushy and shorter with 

 larger leaves. The leaves are pinnate with four pairs of leaflets op- 

 posite and petioled and a terminal one. The pairs of leaflets are about 

 an inch apart, soft lanceolate acuminate and crenate, about 3 inches 

 long and i\ inch wide, dark green above and paler beneath, softly 

 hairy on both surfaces especially on the nerves. The whole leaf 

 is about 8 inches long. The flowers are borne in slender racemes 

 about if to a foot long, in the axils of the leaves. They are very 

 small about J / 1 6th inch across, with 4 minute oblong petals, and 

 4 larger oblong petals, both deep red. The 4 stamens are very 



