176
ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY,
stalks, from which the genus can be ascertained, as was done by Dr. Wight some years before the publication of Mr. Royle's catalogue. The name used in Hindoostan has been introduced into Arabic, Persian, Teloogoo. and Tamul. A tree called by the Mahrattas " malkanee," the seeds of which afford an oil, grows in the forest of Dongatal, north of Nagpore, but I did not see the tree nor am I sure that it is the same. 151 'J he seeds differ in quality, sometimes from age, but I have seen very fresh ones of inferior quality, apparently from their being pulled too soon. When new, the seeds are partially surrounded by a yellow unctuous tasteless farina, and when they are reduced to powder they form a paste from which a yellow oil, having in some degree the qualities of the seeds, may be expressed. These have a hot biting taste, permanent in the palate, and if many of them are masticated, a sense of giddiness and a peculiar slight sensation extending over the face and brow are felt„ A very slight taste and no acrimony is given to water distilled from them, and the oil on the surface of the residuum is bland. The seeds retain their taste. It was evident from this, that their virtues did not reside either in a fixed or volatile oil. Some of the seeds were coarsely powdered, and alcohol rubbed up with them and afterwards filtered ; it bad acquired a light yellow tinge. On this being dropped into water, an immediate separation of the resin it held in solution took place, in a white flake, which had a strong biting acrid taste exactly like that of the seeds, but much more powerful, and in which it appears the virtues of the plnnt reside. The alcoholic solution evaporated, leaves a beautiful yellow resinous paste which also possesses the qualities of the seeds. The black oil itself is a thick deep brown fluid, burning with a white flame and not acted on by acids. Its specific gravity is, at ninety, 1097,5, which is higher than any of the fixed oils ; its taste is rough, bitterish and acrid, its smell empyreumatic and peculiar. Water distilled from it is limpid, but has a good deal of the taste of the seeds, and the oil floating on the water in the retort is tasteless. The oil when rubbed up with alcohol forms a deep olive brown partial solution, and there is only a thick oily matter left on the filter, which has much less taste than the oil itself or the oily tincture. This last, on being dropped into water, separates into a white flake sinking in the wafer and of the .same quality as that obtained from the alcoholic solution of the seeds, and a fixed black oil having a slight bitter oily taste. On the mixture of the oil and alcohol standing for some time, the fixed od partly separates from the tincture ; and seems to pass through the filter with, but not dissolved by it. From these observations it appears, that the resin is combined with the oils existing in the ingredients employed, which are partly converted into an empyreumatic compound, and thus acquire the property of partially dissolving the resin."
Remarks on Genera and Species. Five genera only of this order had been met with in this country at the time we published our Prodromus, since then I have added one (Icones Plant. No. 162) intermediate between Celastrus and Euonymus. Of these I find Meisner proposes to change the name of one, substituting Sckrebera for Eloeodendron. Our Eiceodendron being in truth Retz's Schrebera but not Linnaeus', I confess I am not prepared to coincide with him in this alteration, for so far as I can see, he has not afforded satisfactory reasons for doing so : the characters of his genera Elceodendron and Schrebera, with the exception of the seed, being in effect the same. It appears to me, he has been induced to change our name, partly by a remark of ours to the effect, that " if Geertner be correct in describing the fruit of El. orientate, the type of the genus, as a3-celled drupe, the seeds with a fleshy albumen, and remarkably thin membranous cotyledons, then the Indian species must be removed." This passage is guarded by an if — and not without reason, since it does not appear by any means certain, that Gaertner's E. indicum, is identical with Jacquant's E. orientate, on the contrary, he (Jacquant) particularly mentions the 2-celled nut, which renders their identity very doubtful. With reference to the only other distinction assigned, viz. the seed being exalbuminous with thick cotyledons in the one ; and sparingly fur- nished with albumen and having thin foliaceous cotyledons in the other ; I consider it a mark of inferior importance, and object to it the more, as being in this instance a very unnecessary refine- ment, and but little applicable to general practice, where we have so often to distinguish genera from flowering specimens only. For these reasons I cannot with my present information adopt the innovation. A curious blunder of Meisner's may be here noticed, as it seems not improbable it had some influence in leading him to make two genera, where I think one might have
