XXXIII.— GUTT1FERÆ.
This is a small, strictly tropical, order, few being found to extend even a very few degrees
beyond the tropics. For the roost part it consists of trees, many of considerable dimensions,
abounding in yellow resinous juice, that of some of the species, forming the well known Gamboge
of commerce. The leaves are opposite, coriaceous, usually short petroled, simple, entire,
1-nerved with numerous transverse parallel veins, and without stipules. The flowers are either
hermaphrodite or unisexual, either axillary, solitary, or racemose, or in terminal panicles ; occa-
Sl°naCalyxfree^oftenCp’ersistent, 2-4-6 or 8 sepaled.the sepals often coloured, resembling petals, lm-
bricatedV alternate pairs, the exterior ones often larger. Petals hypogynous, as many as the
sepals and alternate with them, or occasionally there are 4 in a 2-sepaled calyx, the outer pair
passing insensibly into sep'als. Stamens numerous, filaments either distinct, or combined mtoone,
or four parcels, rarely definite ; when unisexual, more numerous in the male flowers. Anthers
adnate one, two or 4-celled, bursting either lengthwise, transversely across the apex, or are cir-
cumsSfie sometimes, they op™ b y ! pore. Disk none, or prolonged m f a m r f j B W m I
ovary in Mangostana. Ovarium solitary, superior, one or several celled, ovules solitary, or
several erectf or attached by the middle to a central placenta. Style none, or short. Stigma
peltate’ entire, or radiate and lobed. Fruit, either dry or succulent, one or several celled,
with one rarely several seed in each cell. Seeds, frequently nestling m pulp, their coat thin
and membranous apterous, frequently with an arillus. Albumen none. Embryo straight, cotyledons
thick, inseparable : radicle either turned to or from the hilum.
Affinities. These have been already indicated under Ternstroemiaceoe and Hypencineoe,
the orders most nearly related to this, and the distinguishing marks pointed out : to these
therefore I beg now to refer merely observing, that hitherto, so far as my opportunities of examining
the Indian representatives of these orders extend, I have found no difficulty in discriminating
between them. I do not mean by this to assert that difficulties are not found m distinguishing
between these orders as now defined, but simply, that the Indian species seem mostly
to appertain to the more marked, and least equivocal forms of each. Some further observât ons
bearing on this subject will be found under the head of ‘ Remarks on genera and species below.
Geographical Distribution. This, as remarked above is strictly a tropical order, very
few species extending beyond that limit, Xanthochymus pictorms being mentioned by Mr.
Royle as a remarkable exception, and my Calophyttum Walkeru may perhaps g B H B f
second example, for although a native of Ceylon, yet it is found only on the highest parts ot
the island at an elevation of about 7000 feet. These however can at best be considered as
doubtful exceptions to the general rule, that they are confined to low m“ st 1° ° ^ s orde^'xhif
a warm and humid climate, since neither can be viewed as genuine members ot the order, xms
prediliction for warmth and moisture satisfactorily accounts for their predominance on the west
coast of the PenTnsula,where some species greatly abound, as compared l i g l g B l
few species are found, and these very rare, being nearly confined to warm sheltered alpin y ,
enjoying a more humid climate than the plains The southern provinces of Ceyion, Silhet the 1
n a s s e r im coast, and eastern Archipelago, each partake largely of this order,
there is high temperature combined with much moisture there they are found. In B f f g g j g
rica they are said to be more numerous than in Asia, this however may be doubted, as it appe M
from Wallich’s list of Indian plants, that including Xanthochymus he had no fewe
Indian species ; while Mr. Don’s system of plants, the last work published gnung a complete c t
lonue of the order, has but 79, and these do not include several Javanese species puMishe »
Blume, to which it may be added, we have every reason to believe there are very ^ .
discovered in India and her islands, the Botany of every part of which has
investigated than that of many parts of tropical America, H W W M H H i order is
harvest for the enterprising Botanist in both countries. In continental Atnca t
pearly unknown, but several species are natives of Madagascar and the Mauritius.
P roperties and Uses. DeCandolle remarks that without doubt the Guttiferæ would
prove of great value, both for medicine and the arts, were they not | | | § § f R
warmest climates. As ornamental trees they are certainly not surpassed by any in t g
kingdom, and if we may judge of others from what is known of the Pinney tree ( Calophyl-
lumJ the timber of some at least must be very valuable, but little seems yet known regarding
it, Roxburgh generally so attentive to the uses and applications of the plants he describes
is altogether silent on this head respecting Guttiferce, contenting himself with the mention
of several, the fruit of which is eatable, such as the well known Mangosteen ( Garcinia
Mangostana) the Garcinia cowa, of Silhet and Malabar, the fruit of which is “ eatahle, though
not palatable” the G. Kydiana, the fruit of which is p an exceedingly sharp but pleasant acid,
and the aril or pulp, by far the most palatable part,” and lastly, the Garcinia pedunculala “ the
fleshy part of the fruit, which covers the seed, and their proper juicy envelope or aril is in large
quantity, of a firm texture, and of a very sharp pleasant acid taste. It is used by the natives
in their curries and for acidulating water.” As it retains its qualities when cut into slices and
dried, he suggests, that it might be advantageously employed on long voyages as a substitute
for lemons of limes. The pulp of the fruit of Garcinia paniculata he thinks more like that of
the Mangosteen, than any thing else he can compare it to. The parched climate of this portion
of India renders it unlikely that we shall ever succeed in introducing many of them here:
Roxburgh tried in vain for 35 years to make the Mangosteen grow and be fruitful in Calcutta.
The attempts made in the gardens of Courtallum have been more successful, for there two or three
trees annually ripen their fruit, few in number it is true, but the trees are still young. Plants
raised from seed saved from these trees were, I learned some time ago. thriving in Mr. Hux-
ham’s plantations in Malabar. From this source therefore, it seems not improbable, the tree
will extend along that coast the climate of which appears congenial to the plant.
Of those producing Gamboge, Roxburgh particularly mentions two kinds, namely, Xantho-
chymus pictorius and Garcinia pictoria. The juice of the former differs so very widely in its qualities
from good Gamboge, that it can never be expected to prove valuable as a pigment, until
its chemical constitution is better known than it was to Roxburgh, and measures can be adopted
to render it more manageable in the hands of the artist. This result the imperfect analysis
of Dr. Christison seems to indicate, is most unlikely, since however well known, it does
not possess the elements of Gamboge : a further confirmation of the opinion, expressed above,
that it is not a genuine Guttifera. That of the latter is described as affording a bright
coloured superior Gamboge when recent, but the colour liable soon to fade. The tree or trees,
however, which produce the Siam or Chinese Gamboge of commerce is not yet known, though
the result of late enquiries on the subject in Ceylon, leave scarcely a doubt, as to it or them
being members of this family—neither is the kind of preparation known, which the finer kinds
undergo to fit them for the European market. The account given of the course of this
article to the European market is, that it is produced in Siam and carried thence to Singapore,
whence it is imported into England by the China ships.
The best account we yet possess, so far as I am aware, of the qualities and composition of
Gamboge is given in a paper by Professor Christison of Edinburgh, “ On the sources and composition
of Gamboge, with an examination of some analogous concrete juices” published in the
second volume of Hooker’s Companion to the Botanical Magazine, the whole of which article
I should, had space permitted, have transferred to these pages, as being so much more
generally read in this country than the work in which it originally appeared. Some extracts
from this masterly memoir I shall however introduce, in the hope that they may lead to still
further enquiry both in this country and in the eastern Archipelago, where the tree producing it,
is most probably indigenous, and prove the means of putting us in possession of flowering
specimens of the plant thereby enabling us to set at rest this long agitated question, viz.,
what is the tree that affords the Gamboge of commerce?-—one Ceylon tree, the one here figured
under the name of Hebradendron Canibogeoides, has been ascertained to produce a Gamboge,
agreeing in nearly all respects with the best Siam Gamboge, whence it is presumed, and on
good grounds, that a nearly allied, if not the identical, species is the one that produces the Gamboge
of commerce, which it would appear from the enquiries of Dr. Christison is altogether
derived from the eastward, none having as yet been exported from Ceylon for the English
market.
Of the Ceylon tree, Dr. Graham, Professor of Botany in Edinburgh, has given a very interesting
account in the same volume of the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, and shown
that it is totally different from the Stalagmitis Cambogioides of Murray, the tree hitherto supposed,
on most insufficient grounds, to be the source of this very valuable substance.