240 



Remarks on the Gamboge Tree of Ceylon. 



[July 



promised to send as more, which promise he faithfully kept, and \ shall 

 forward specimens to you of his present hy the first opportunity. The 

 Qarcinia Cambogia, of which I transmit you a representation, is one of 

 the most common trees in this neighbourhood, attaining a large size, 

 and is very handsome, with remarkably thick and dark foliage. A 

 quantity of resinous juice proceeds from its bark, in the same manner 

 that Gamboge does from the Stalagmitis ; but it never seems to harden 

 thoroughly, and no use is made of it by the natives. The outer husk 

 of the fruit, however, is a favourite ingredient in their curries. They 

 prepare it by taking out the pulp and seeds, breaking it to pieces, and 

 putting it in a heap, which is covered for two or three days, till it be- 

 comes soft. It is then smoked by burning cocoa-nut shells below the 

 grating on which it is spread. This operation is continued for many- 

 days, when it is tied up tight in a bag, and kept for use by being hung, 

 J cannot say in the chimney, for chimneys they have none, — but where 

 it is under the influence of the smoke from their fires when cooking. 

 They also use it in pickling or preserving, along with salt, a kind of 

 small fish, which cured in this way will keep for six or seven months. 

 The flower of No. 2, which I suppose is also a Garcinia, differs much 

 from No. 1, but the fruit appears almost the same, and is used by the 

 natives in the same way. They are indiscriminately called Goraka by 

 the Singhalese, but are distinguished by their colour." * 



In a subsequent letter, dated January 2, 1835, Mrs. Walker says, 

 " I am convinced Stalagmitis produces true Gamboge. Dr. Pitcairn is 

 of the same opinion, and desires me to tell you that he has administer- 

 ed it in the same way as it is used medicinally at home, and found its 

 effects precisely the same." 



I shall now state what the plant seems to be which is called by Mrs. 

 Walker Stalagmitis cambogioides, and what are my reasons for forming 

 the opinion which I entertain. 



Linnaeus, in his Flora Zeylanica, No. 195, under the name Cambogia, 

 quotes as a synonym, " Carcapuli Acostee, fructu malo aureo simili," 

 of Plukenett's Almagestum Botanicum ; which, if it be the same as 

 the twig figured by Plukenett in his Phytographia, I. \47,Jig. 3, seems 

 to me to be Xanthochymus ovalifolius. 



In the same work, Linnaeus also quotes, as a synonym of his Cambo- 

 gia, the " Arbor Indica, quae gummi guttam fundit, fructu acido sulcato 

 mali magnitudine" of Commelyn's Flora Malabarica, which is certainly 

 " Coddam-pulli" of Rheede in Hortus Malabaricus, Mangostana Cam- 



* No. 1. I believe this to be Garcinia Cambogia, Willd., which is G. affinis of Wight 

 and Arnott, ce.itainly not of Wallich. No. 2 is probably a var. of G. Kydia of Roxb., 

 perhaps his G . purpurea ; hut as Roxb. gives no description of G. pmrpurea, the point 

 cannot be determined. It is, no doubt, the G, Cambogia p., or Red Garcinia, of Moon's 



Catalogue. R. G. 



