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large pendulous racemes of rich scarlet flowers hanging in profusion 
from every part of its noble stem, it is indeed superb. It was dis¬ 
covered growing in the garden of a decayed Kioua, or religious esta¬ 
blishment, in Burmah, about twenty-seven miles from Martaban. 
Handfuls of the flowers of this tree are presented by the devout as 
offerings, in the caves, before the images of Buddha.” The only 
account we have of this plant is in the writings of Dr. Wallich, who 
describes its generic character as follows :—“ Calyx bibracteate, four- 
cleft, and coloured; vexillum obcordate and large; wings wedge- 
shaped ; keel of two small petals ; pod stipulate and oblong* many- 
seeded.” We believe this gorgeous plant is not yet introduced into our 
collections, and should be particularly inquired after by European 
residents or visiters to Rangoon. 
“ Tamarindus Indica, the Tamarind or Tetul of Hindostan, is a 
native of Egypt and Arabia, as well as of the East Indies. The date, 
called tamar by the Arabs, being their most common and valuable 
fruit, other important fruits have been called dates, or tamars , likewise, 
with some distinctive epithet adjoined; hence the one in question 
received the name of Tamar-Hendi, the date of India—whence our 
word tamarind. Ignorance or neglect of this circumstance led botanists 
to add Indica as the specific name, to a generic one in which the 
habitat of the plant was already included. 
Tamar-indus Indica, the Indian date, is therefore, as Dr. Francis 
Hamilton has observed, in his ‘ Commentary on the Hortus Mala- 
baricus,’ ( a vile pleonasm,’ and the sooner it and some others like it 
become obsolete in the language of botany, the better. Hence, as 
there are two species of tamarind—the one growing in the East Indies, 
and the other in the West—-and as the West Indian species is called 
T. occidentalis, T . orientalis would be an appropriate distinctive name 
for the East Indian one. 
The wood of the tamarind tree is heavy, firm, and hard, and is a 
useful building-timber: but it is for its fruit that the tree is most 
known and valued. The pods of the tamarind consist, like other peri¬ 
carps, of three layers or coats, such as are very evident in the plum 
and the peach; the outer one called the epicarp, the inner one next 
the seed is the endocarp, and an intermediate one is the mesocarp. 
In the tamarind the endocarp is very thin ; and the pulpy matter for 
which the fruit is prized is the mesocarp. This pulp contains sugar, 
with a large proportion of acid matter; both citric and tartaric acids, 
as well as mallic acid and supertartrate of potash, being found on 
analysis; and hence the refreshing properties of the fruit, and its 
medicinal use in fevers, The oriental tamarinds are more pulpy than 
