423 



Postscript : 



[April 



POSTSCRIPT. 



To the Editor of the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. 



My Dear Sir— Since the publication of my remarks on the Gamboge 

 tree, I have had much correspondence with Colonel Walker respecting 

 it ; in the course of which he recalled to my recollection a circumstance 

 which, at the time of writing, had altogether escaped my memory, 

 namely, that he had shown me specimens collected in the cinnamon 

 gardens of Colombo, where he believes it indigenous. He has besides 

 mentioned several other localities in which it is found in the interior, 

 which leaves not the slightest doubt that it is truly a native of Ceylon. 

 In one letter he says, " it is found in great abundance along the western 

 and eastern coast m the neighbourhood of Battacola, but I am assured 

 by natives who know the Kara goraka or Gokatu, that it grows to a 

 very large size in the Seven Korles quite inland, where it could not have 

 been planted by the Dutch. * * * The Gamboge itself is as fine as any 

 in the world. Mrs. Walker has tried the juice of two or three species, 

 none of which mix properly with water or spirit, or are at all fit for the 

 purposes of colouring drawings, f hat of the tree in question is as 

 good for medicinal purposes and painting as any from Siam or else- 

 where, and the great probability is, that, being produced in nearly the 

 same situations, they are identical." In another letter he says, "I think 

 we have ascertained to a certainty that it is indigenous in Ceylon, for 

 the largest trees are found in that part of the interior wher'e the Dutch 

 had no control ; its favourite abode, however, seems to be, in low sandy 

 ground, being very abundant about Kaderaane, Negombo, and towards 

 Chilaw, also about Colombo, and not at all confined to gardens. Of all 

 the Garcineas which are in Ceylon, be assured that Xanthochymus 

 pictorius alone is foreign. You may be equally certain that Stalag- 

 mitis Cambogioides, Moon's Cat., produces as fine Gamboge as any in 

 the world, for what can be finer or more durable, than the colour on the 

 figures of Buddhoo, painted centuries ago." 



The last reference to this tree is in a note received two days ago, in 

 which he remarks — " I have found the Stalagmitis, now described by 

 Dr. Graham under a new name, one hundred miles inland, perfectly 

 indigenous, and no other Garcineas at so high an elevation, 2000 feet 

 above the sea." 



We have now irrefragable proof that the tree producing the best 

 kind of Gamboge is a native of Ceylon. I have already proved, I think 

 almost to demonstration, that Murray's Stalagmitis Cambogioides 

 is identical with Roxburgh's Xanthochymus Ovalifolius, and 

 that this new plant forms the type of a genus quite distinct from 

 both Xanthochymus and Garcinia, for which I proposed to retain the 

 now vacant name of Stalagmitis, combining with it Garcinia pictoria 



