302 



On the Tree which produces 



[Oct. 



India, the climate of which, corresponds in many respects with that 

 of the south west coast of Ceylon ; and, lastly, because, it, in part 

 at least, sets this long agitated question at rest, by making us ac- 

 quainted with the probable source of the best gamboge used in the 

 arts. 



Botanically considered, this plant presents some points of considerable 

 interest, which may be the means of directing more of the attention of 

 Botanists to the peculiarities of the order to which it belongs, than it 

 has hitherto received. 



Dr. Graham shows that his plant is not a Xanthochymus, neither is 

 it a Garcinia, and, unless there is an error in the description, that it can- 

 not be a Stalagmitis, but that it forms a new genus, essentially charac- 

 terised by its stamens, the filaments of which are united into a single 

 square column, and the anthers one-celled, opening at the apex by a 

 calyptra, or lid, in place of two-celled, bursting longitudinally, as in all 

 the other genera of guttiferce ; characters amply sufficient to separate it 

 from every other genus of the order. 



To the conviction expressed that this new genus is undoubtedly Gcert- 

 ner's Mangostana morella, I can offer no objection, as I am altogether 

 unacquainted with that plant, except through the figure, and because 

 Dr. Graham has not stated the evidence on which he grounds this con- 

 clusion, but if it should prove correct, I must acknowledge it goes far to 

 establish the fact of its being a native of Ceylon, and, consequently, that 

 the juice of it, as well as of other trees, may be drawn for gamboge as 

 that of Garcinia pictorea Roxb. Another member of this new genus is 

 in Malabar. 



Here the question must for the present rest; as it can only be finally- 

 decided by reference to authentic specimens of the plant described by 

 the older botanists (who usually paid much attention to useful plants) 

 as the " Arbor Indica Gummi Guttata fundens," and which has now 

 been bandied about from species to species, till it seems to have multi- 

 plied itself into about half a dozen different trees ; but I trust that 

 Ceylon botanists will now be induced to take up the subject in earnest, 

 and ascertain, by actual inspection and the preservation of specimens, 

 the tree, or trees, for there may be several, from which its gamboge is 

 derived, and further to determine whether the trees, which have given 

 rise to this fresh agitation of the question, are of indigenous or exotic 

 origin. 



While writing on the subject, I shall avail myself of the opportunity 

 to offer a few observations on the essential characters of the genera, 

 named in the above remarks, namely Garcinia, Cambogia, Mangostana, 

 Stalagmitis and Xanthochymus ; with the view of directing attention to 

 some points of structure, which, it appears to me, have not been sufri- 



