PREFACE.
j:,si of Dr. Kor.Nic's Mamxcrijili, received by
Sir,losrPH Banks,
Jouiusl of his Voyage lo Siam, commcnclng August S,
17 7 8, and cmliug abri.pay Decerabcv i : . 1 77 9. The part
Ivom rcbruiiry 22, lo ihc end oi" April, is wanting.
lournul or l.is Voyage IVoin Mwh'iis to Tr inkamaly, commencing
April 15,1 7 80. iUKl ending M. y 11, when lie siill
was ill Trinkamuly.
Journal of his \'oyage from Nagore to Ce)don, commencingj;
muary 7,17 SI, and ending April 11, when he was still
in Ce)-lon. From a memorandinn in another place, it appears
that he returned to Tranqucbar August 23.
The rest of hi.s manuscripts consists chiclly of descriptions
of plants: very little ia thent relates to animals, and still less
to niinerals. They are collected together in nineteen volumes."
• Several lettm la Lini>^us, ontl.« subjcc. of Iccbnd, « nho resi,ec.l.>g tl.cEut
Inclics, ;irc ii. llic ¡»sscsbion ofllic I'.cMcIcnt ofllic Linraan Sociciy.
A LIM of various PiMcaiioiis Dr. Koi:nig.
ATreatise on the Whi t e Ants, is found in the fourtln
hune of the Berlin Transactions.
An Account of the Ebony Tree ; in the first volume of
die Transactions of the Society of Lund.
Several letters, relating to the Natural History of the East
Indies; in different volumes of the Transact ions of the Royal
Society of Copenhagen, and of the Society of Berlin: as also
ill the Natin forscher-
A great number of plants discovered by Koenig, are found
in Retzii Obscrvationes Botanic®. In the third Fasciculus,
are printed Kociiig's Descriptiones Monundrarum; and in
the sixth, his Descriptiones Epidendrorum,
An Account of his voyage to Ceylon, in 1 7 7 7, is found
in Hcnnings's Description of Tanjore, and the Danish colony
at Tranqucbar.
In part XX. of the Naturforscher is -an Account of a new
Genus of Plants, called Xylocarpus.
In the ninth x-oluine of the Com men tati ones of the Society
of Gottingen is a Memoir, byProfessor Murray, on theTrees
which produce the Gummi Gutta, entirely drawn up from
Koenig's papers, sent to Professor Murray by Sir Joseph
Banks.
In the first volume of the Transactions of ilie Linnasan
Society, Mr.Dryunder has published Koenig's Description
of a n ew Species of Begonia; and in the second volume, his
Description of Jambolifera.
GYROCARPUS JACQUINI.
Crcrhi. sen. 2. {k 92- lah. 97.
Gyrocarpus araericaiuis, Jacqu. o
Afrag. Voyage de Lc Bruu m Fcrs.
Taniicoo of the Telingas.
Cattamaran Wood Tree.
!7 8 . / . 80.
vol. 2. i>. 2Í7.
. GENERIC CHARACTER.
liEaMAi'MRODiTE. Calyx above, four-leaved, unequal. Corel none,
A'ec/f!?7 four clubbed glands. 5/«?««« four. Pistilonz. Style
none. Caj>sule one-cclled, one-seeded, ending in two long
membranaceous wings.
Male. Calyx five-leavccJ, equal. Xcciary and Stamens as in the
Hermaphrodite, without pistil.
DESCRIPTION.
7rank in general erect; Bari smooth, greenish ash colour.
Branches thin, irregularly spreading in every direction.
Leaves ajjproximated about the extremities of the branchlets, petiolcd,
broad heartetl, three-nerved, frequently slightly lobed,
abo\'e smooth, below downy ; there are two pits on the upper
side of the base ; length and breadth various, but in general
Jive or six Indies each way.
Petiole round, downy, three inches long.
Panicles terminal, iimbell-like; divisions two-forked.
Flowers very small, yellow.
Hernufphroditc Floioers solitar\% sessile, in the divisions of tlie
Calyx above, four-lea\'ed; leaflets unequal ; exterior pair small, oval,
falling; inteuor pair large, wedge-shaped, three-toothed, permanent,
and increasing in size witli the pericarp into two
long membranaceous wings.
Cord none.
Xectary four clubbed, yellow, glands.
Filavieitts four, longer than the calyx, inserted alternately with the
nectarial glands into a perforated receptacle.
Anthers quacb angiilar, opening on each side with an oval lid,
Geiin below, egged.
Style none.
Stigma small, immersed in the perforation of the receptacle of the
filaments and nectarial glands.
Cajistde globular, wrinkled, one-celled, one-valved, does not open,
size of a cherry, ends in two long, obtuse, lanced, membrana-
Seed one.
OBSERVATIONS.
This grows to be a very large tree, is chiefly a native of the mountainous
parts of the coast, casts its leaves about the end of the wet
season ; flowers during the cold season when the tree is naked; the
leaves comc out soon after. -
The wood of this tree is white and very light, is employed to
make catumiarans (rafts), when to be had, in preference to any other.
2. SIRIUM MYRTIFOLIUM.
Linn. Mant. 200.
Sandal AVood Tree.
Leaves opposite, short-petioled, spreading, lanccd, entire, waved,
smooth, shining, about two inchcs long, and three-quarters of
an inch broad.
Stipules none.
Raceme thyrsc-like, terminal, compound, small, erect.
Flowers small, red.
Calyx above, belled, four-cleft: divisions egged, expanding, coloured.
Carol none, except the nectary be such.
Mctaiy four-leaved, in verse-hearted, notched, inserted into the
mouth of the calyx.
Filamenls four, short, haiiy, inserted into the calyx alternately witli
the leaflets of the nectary,
Sligma four-lobed.
Berry globular, size of a large pea, smooth, juicy, black when ripe,
This valuable tree is a native of many parts of India: here, in
the Cii'car mountains, wliere it is wild, it is but of a small size,
and the wood of little value. On the R'falabar coast it is much
larger, and the wood reckoned of the best soi l,
Tlie wood of this tree is the wliite and yelIo\v Sanders, Santaluin
album et flavuni of the Materia Medica ; both the sorts are the
produce of the same tree, and not, as Garcías says, of difíérent trees.
Most trees in India, when large and old, become coloured towards
the cenirc, that part is aKvays niucli more hard and durable than the
exteiior uncoloured pan. It is the same with the Sandal tree: the
centre, when the tree becomes large, acquires a yellow colour, great
fragrance, and hardness; while the exterior part of the same tree,
that covers the coloured part, is less iirm, white, and without fragrance.
It is only the yellow sort that is of use; and the larger
the tree the more valuable is the wood, it having then acquired a
greater degree of fragrance, for which alone it is held in such universal
estimation.
Birds eat greedily the berries, by whicli means it is propagated
extensively.
.5, OLDENLANDIA UMBELLATA.
Linn. Spec. PUml. ITi.
Tsheri-vello of the Telingas.
Saya-ver, or Imburel of the Tarauls.
Chay Root, or East India Madder of the English.
Root very long, from one to two feet, slender, with few lateral
fibres, when fresii the bark is orange coloured ; in the cultivated
sort it is longest, and with fewer fibres.