THE TROPTO^tt. AtSRItnJLTUmST. 
[July t, 1890, 
S8 
collected above 600 species of plants. After this 
a Mr. Nightingale collected for the Duke of Nor- 
thumberland and a Mr. MacEae seems to have 
beep in the Island : he has added to the grasses. 
Mr. Bennett* on return from New South Wales 
visited Ceylon and has published some interesting 
particulars on the difierent varieties of the Coco Palm. 
The Flora of Java is quite unknown here : the 
researches of Blume, Eeinwardt, Dr. Horsfield and 
others might enable us to ascertain several of the 
species not indigenous to India. 
Finally a Mr. Gumming brought an immense 
Herbarium of plants for sale from the Indian Archi- 
pelago about 1840to London. A list of the Ferns have 
been pub'ished and probably contains many of the 
Ceylon species. 
From the preceding remarks it will be observed 
that whilst in 1842 the state of knowledge of 
botany in Ceylon was at a very low ebb, materials 
had gone to England which may have enabled 
botanist’s in England or India to form a very good 
estimate of our Flora, and indeed it appears that 
Bindley has drawn very largely on Ceylon for Orehi- 
deous Plants, although our present list in Moon is 
very limited. The Gardens are possessed of draw 
ings of a very beautiful series of Ceylon plants 
which canno tall be ascertained by the scanty 
references to t obtained from its indifferent library. 
Such is the state of our knowledge up to April 
1843. But I have here the pleasing duty of re- 
marking that a few months may fee a very 
improved state of our knowledge, as the Govern- 
ment has most liberally come forward in purchasing 
books of Modern reference which have already 
arrived and will shortly be open to the public. It 
is also expected that the labours of Colonel Walker 
and the knowledge of Indian botanists will shortly 
be made known in Ceylon and it is in contem- 
plation to publ sh a corrected list of plants indigenous 
to the Island. Possibly some years may elapse 
ere our knowledge is very complete, but it cannot 
fail but that yearly much will be added to our Flora, 
Botany is by many people considered a very dry 
study, and undoubtedly it is the grammar to 
horticulture, agriculture and higher branches of a 
knowledge of vegetation, usually allowed to be 
important in the daily routine of life. To those 
interested in it as a pursuit, it opens a very curious 
field of observat'on in the structure of plants and 
for many other considerations ; and those who 
have mastered its difficulties will turn their atten- 
tion to all the higher branches of the subject with 
singular success and unravel many of the mysteries 
of agriculture and commerce. I will briefiy give a 
few instances ; Cinnamon and Cassia have been 
known as articles of commerce from a very early 
period, as far back as some of the earlier Greek 
Historians. As such our merchants are perfectly 
acquainted with their peculiarities, but riot so with 
the sources from which produced. It is true that 
the Dutch had cultivated the true Cinnamon plant, 
and so it was known how we got Cinnamon and 
it was certain that Cassia came both from Ceylon 
and India and must be known to those who had 
prepared it for the market. Now just about the 
period that Cinnamon had begun to fall in value, 
people in England began to ask what Cassia was, 
some paid it came from a different tree from that 
producing Cinnamon, others supposed it to be an 
inferior ju’oduce of the Cinnamon tree, the tree 
allowed to grow old, or the bark of branches of a 
different year’s growth. Of course the old Dutch 
wrilt rs were referred to and then it appeared that 
certainly there was a Cassia tree, as well as a 
Cinnamon tree, but when botanists began to look 
- Dr. GeorgeBenuitt.BtilllivinginSyduey.— Ed. 2. A. 
further, they found that scarcely two botanists 
agreed about the description of the Cassia tree 
although several had professed to describe it every 
correctly. Botanists in England began to fancy 
there might be many varieties of Cinnamon or of 
the true Cinnamon ; so they got specimens of 
Cinnamon and Cassia and all the information they 
could on the subject, but just sufficient to leave 
a great deal to be said on both sides. In 1838 
the question was at last taken up by the Madras 
Government and they went to work by obtaining 
specimens of Cinnamon and Cassia and reports 
upon them from the Government Agents of places 
where these articles were exported and were also 
so assisted by Colonel Walker and the Ceylon 
Government. The reports were very conflicting 
and unsatisfactory, but fortunately Government had 
always insisted on Specimens being sent and these 
were placed in the hands of Dr. Wight. Dr. 
Wight and other botanists were aware that a great 
many species of Cinnamon existed and many of 
these had been described by either Eoxburgh, 
Blume or the Brothers Nees ab Essenbeek ; so that 
although Dr. Wight could not in a'l instances de- 
termine the species sent, because they might be 
deficient in flowers or fruit, as tbe Government 
Agents might not in all instances be up to the 
requisites of a dried specimen for an Herbarium, 
yet in many instances he did discover what the 
species of Cinnamon was as deecribed in books 
or as new species, and hence he at last was able 
to settle the question very determinately, and Cassia 
is found both to be an inferior preparation of the 
true Cinnamon tree and also the better portions 
of bark of a great variety of Cinnamon trees of 
different species and which do not yield true Cin- 
namon. Also that inferior Cinnamons are produced 
in various parts of the Indian Coast and these are 
of species differing from the true Cinnamon of Ceylon, 
Dr. Blume, enumerates in Java eleven species of 
Cinnamon-yielding aromatic barks and several of 
these are said to vie with the very finest Cinnamon 
of our market. Now I may here observe that 
Botany is certainly of some use. For when all the 
species shall have been described and the English 
merchants are satisfied that there are other good 
Cinnamons besides the true Cinnamon, many of 
the underrated Cinnamons will be estimated at 
their proper value, and if a Coffee Planter should 
find a good deal of Cinnamon on his estate and 
can discriminate his species, he will be aware of its 
exact value whether as. Cinnamon or Cassia by 
ascertaining the name.* 
A great many other instances might be cited with 
respect to our Medical Pharmacopeia. Drugs are 
purchased at a very high price from foreign coun- 
tries, when it is probable that other species in our 
own Colonies are possessed of similar qualities, 
which might certainly supersede the more expensive 
articles, where indigenous. Sarsaparilla is one and 
various species of Convolvulus of this country might 
produce jalap without resorting to the Mexican or 
true jalap. It is only by a botanical knowledge 
of species that we could impart such knowledge or 
discovery to the public. 
Gamboge is another article of commerce and there 
are Gamboges of various qualities produced from 
different trees which require botanical diserimina- I 
tion. It created a good deal of attention a few years 
previous and Colonel Walker was interested in the 
enquiry and in discovering the Ceylon species. I 
Dr. Graham has at last settled the question deter- fj 
• When Mr. A. M. Ferguson examined Weywelhena, |j 
Uva, in the early months of 1841, he reported that the |> 
undergrowth consisted largely of cinnamon, which 
had evidently been habitually oat for spice. — En. T. A. , 
