Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/45

Rh root as possessing deobstruent and emenagogue properties. As a perfume and ornament, the flowers are held in general estimation among the Natives. I have not heard of any of the southern species of Michelia being esteemed on account of their timber, though several of the Nepal ones afford large and valuable timber. Some of these might, I think, with every prospect of success be transferred to our mountain tracts, and would probably prove both useful and ornamental: in Mysore they might be expected to succeed well, though not equal to what analogy gives us reason to anticipate in the cooler regions of the Neelgherries and Pulneys.

. In this, as in most other very natural orders, the dis- crimination of both genera and species is always a task of much difficulty, and until Blume undertook the revision of the genera, of this order, nothing could be more perplexed. His very valuable and costly work, the Flora of Java, I have not an opportunity of consulting, there not being, so far as I am aware, a single copy in Madras, but being very fortunately favoured, through Dr. Arnott, with an abstract of his observations on the order I shall take the liberty of introducing it, which I do, the more readily, as it was prepared with reference to the species here represented.

The generic characters assigned by DeCandolle for the separation of Magnolia and Michelia, appearing to me involved and unsatisfactory, I requested Dr. A. to supply me with what information he possessed or could procure on the subject : the following is his answer.

"I have looked at different books about the difference between Magnolia and Michelia, and find the only man who has really made himself master of the subject to be Blume in his Flora Java?. He has remodelled the genera completely, and does not allow a single Magnolia in all East India; the true ones are all American, and are determined by the anthers extrorse. Then as to DeCandolle's second section of Magnoliae, about the fruit of which DeC. was ignorant, Blume shows that it is composed of two or three genera, one part of them belongs to Michelia, another to Talauma, and one to Manglietia. He characterizes Michelia thus. Petals (i. e. petals and sepals combined) 6-15, rarely more, in a ternary or quinary order. Stamens numerous, the anthers anticous. Ovaries numerous, or rarely few, densely spiked but distinct from each other, many ovules. Capsules sub-globose, coriacious, half 2 valved, loosely spiked, many seed, or by abortion 1-2 seeded. To this genus Blume refers all the Asiatic Magnoliae with axillary flowers and loosely imbricated fruit, whether the latter contain few or many seeds. To these belong Magnolia fuscata, ''Mag. excelsa'' Wall. ''Mag. parviflora DeC. Michelia parviflora'' De Lessert ic. tab: 85 non DeC.) and several others. His genus Manglietia, we have nothing like, but to it belongs Magnolia insignis Wall, the ovaries contain many ovules and are concrete, while the capsules are combined into an egg-shaped fruit. A third of Blume's genera is Aromadendron, having 28-36 petals, in a quaternary order, ovaries closely combined, 2 ovuled, &c. but that is truly a Java plant — lastly, is Talauma, which he has ascertained scarcely to differ from the American species for which Jussien made the genus. Here then are 9-15 petals (or sepals) in a ternary order : Stamens numerous, anthers anticous, ovaries several, united, 2 ovuled — Fruit of one mass, strobiliform, woody, irregularly dehiscent. Seeds 1-2, pendulous in the pits of the central, cylindrical, elongated, receptacle ; which by the dehiscence is left free ; the inflorescence is terminal. To this genus Blume refers Magnolia pumila of Springel (excluding synonyms) Magnolia pumila Andr. and DeCandolle, Magnolia Rumphii Spr. (excl. syn. Linn.) or Rumph. 2 tab. 69 &c. under his Talauma pumila (or Magnolia pumila Andr.) he quotes (like DeCandolle) Guillimia Indica Rottl : which Rottler says he found in the continent of India. Now a question here arises, can Rottler's plant have been cultivated? or wild? The only information I can get on that, is that in Curtis' Magazine, where, at t. 977, Magnolia pumila is figured, it is said "we have been informed that some botanists in Madras considering this plant a new genus named it Guillimia, in honor of Lady Gwillim, the patroness of science in that presidency." But there it is said to be from China. Now if Rottler's plant came from China, then it may be the true Talauma pumila, but if it came from the Peninsula, then I suspect it to be your Magnolia, probably the same as that given by Zenker as Michelia nilagirica ; and also the same as Colonel Walker and you have from Ceylon. At all events whatever Rottler's be, yours, Zenker's, and Walker's, have axillary inflorescence, and more than two ovules in each ovary, and carpels splitting down the middle so as to be half 2-valved, and are unquestionably Michelia.