1837.] Remarks on the Gamboge Tree of Ceylon. 



245 



Stalagmitis Cambogioides. Moon's Cat. of Plants in Ceylon, Part 

 1. p. 73. 



Descr. A Tree of moderate size. Leaves opposite, petiolate, obo- 

 vato-elliptical, abruptly subacuminate, coriaceous, smooth, shining, 

 dark-green above, paler below, veins in the recent state inconspicuous, 

 especially above ; in the dried state, distinct on botb sides. Flowers 

 unisexual, monsecious, (or dieecious ?). Male small (eight to nine lines 

 across), clustered in the axils of the Petioles, on short single-flowered 

 peduncles. Sepals four, subequal, imbricated, concave, membranous, 

 veined, the outer subentire, and somewhat coriaceous in the bud, 

 the inner sparingly denticulato-ciliate, yellow on the inside, yellowish- 

 white on the outside. Petals four, spathulato-elliptical, coriaceous, 

 crenulate, longer than the calyx, yellowish-white, red on the inside 

 near the base, deciduous. Stamens monadelphous ; column four-sided ; 

 Anthers in a roundish capitulum, terminal upon a short clavate free 

 portion of the filament, opening by the circumcision of a flat umbilicate 

 lid ; pollen yellow, granules elliptical. No trace of a Germen. Female 

 Flower unknown. Berry about the size of a Cherry, round, with a 

 firm reddish-brown external coat, and sweet pulp, four-locular, sur- 

 rounded at the base by the persisting calyx and a few free abortive sta- 

 mens, crowned with the four-lobed tubercled sessile Stigma ; loculament 

 single-seeded. Seeds large in relation to the berry, reniform-elliptical, 

 compressed laterally, integuments yellowish-brown, easily separable 

 into two layers; Cotyledons thick, cohering into an uniform cellular 

 mass ; radicle central, filiform, slightly curved. 



Native of Ceylon. — For the colour and several other parts of the de- 

 scription, I am indebted to Mrs. Walker, 



2. Hebradendron ellipticum ; floribus masculis axillaribus, fascicu- 

 latis; sepalis exterioribus junioribus minoribus; foliis lanceolato-ellip- 

 ticis, apice sensim attenuatis. 



Synonym. 



Garcinia elliptica. Wall. List of Indian Plants, No. 4869 (net 

 Choisy in De Cand. Prodr. 1. 561). 



I know nothing of this species, but from the specimens sent by Dr. 

 Wallich to Sir W. J. Hooker's Herbarium and to my own. The speci- 

 fic character which I have drawn up, may therefore seem insufficient 

 to distinguish it ; and I might perhaps, have considered it only a vari- 

 ety of H. Cambogioides, but for the complete identity of form in the 

 specimens from Dr. Wallich ; their prima-facie difference from any of 

 those received from Mrs. Walker; their considerably larger dissimilar 

 leaves, and also their very different geographical position, less unlikely 

 to possess natives of Siam than of Ceylon, Dr. Wallich's plants were 

 obtained in Siihet. — Companion to the Botanical Magazine, No. 19, 

 page 193-200. 



