Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 2.djvu/30

8 and Ceylon. Of the latter, or perhaps it is Eugenia acris, there is one tree in the Government gardens in Madras, but remains unproductive though apparently healthy.

These are various. Most of the species abound in a fragrant resinous oil as indicated by the pellucid dots of the leaves and other parts. The Cajaputi oil so highly esteemed on account of its medicinal properties is the produce of the Melaleuca leucadendron, a plant of this order, a native of the Eastern islands but now common in India, and which, from its great beauty, would certainly become much more so if more easily propagated : its general aspect, when not in flower, reminds one of a weeping willow. The Rose apple and Jambo Malac are admired not less on account of the beauty of the trees, than for their fine flowers and curiously fragrant fruit which I once heard a child very characteristically describe as a fruit that "tasted like the smell of roses." The clove so well known on account of its pungent aromatic properties is also a member of this order. In addition to their aromatic qualities astringency is also a prominent feature in their constitution and is strongly developed in the bark of the common navel tree Syzygium Jambolanum as also in the fruit which have a sweetish astringent taste : this fruit, which is about the size of a cherry and of a deep purple colour, is during the season exposed for sale in the bazars in great quantities. The tree itself, which is common all over the country, attains a great size and yields a fine hard close grained timber : besides this many other trees of the order are very Astringent and, according to Ainslie, the kino, met with in the Indian bazars, is the produce of Eucalyptus resinifera a New Holland plant.

In its medicinal properties the most remarkable plant of the order is the Pomegranate, a decoction of the bark of the root of which has been ascertained to be almost a specific in the cure of tape worm and is probably equally powerful in the removal of most other intestinal worms. The flowers and rind of the fruit are tonic and astringent and, as well as a decoction of the bark of the root, are prescribed in dysenteric complaints and other affections of the bowels. The medicinal properties of Myrtaceae may now be summed up in few words, aromatic and tonic combined with astringency fitting them, when different species are combined, for the alleviation of chronic bowel complaints and generally for the removal of diseases of debility.

As ornamental shrubs several species of Eugenia merit an equally prominent place in the garden with the common Myrtle and the timber of some of the larger trees is considered excellent, on account of its hardness, combined with close grain and great durability.

In an order so large and generally so natural, it is difficult to find characters by which to define the limits of either genera or species, without having recourse to distinctive marks to which in most other orders only a secondary value would be attached, but which in this owing to their somewhat greater constancy admitting of their being so employed, become of considerable importance—though still insufficient to give good characters or form well defined genera.

Of the tribe Leptospermeae we have only one genus (Melaleuca) belonging to it in this part of India and that not a native. It is at once distinguished by its pentadelphous stamens—and very minute seed almost like powder.

The tribe Myrteae, the largest of the order, is that which principally prevails in India, and requires much consideration if not indeed a complete revision of its genera before they can be said to stand on a firm foundation. As they are now defined many of them are nearly useless, the differences existing more in words than in nature. This remark is confined to the species found in India, those from other quarters being nearly unknown to me except by verbal characters. The genus Myrtus is said to have a many-seeded 2 or 3-celled berry, but no notice is taken of the ovary, a strange oversight, since there we generally find stable characters, not so in the mature fruit, which may be, and usually is, greatly changed in its progress towards maturity. I have examined the ovary of four reputed species. In Myrtus communis it is 3-celled with several ovules in each. In M. lomentosa it is 3-celled, each imperfectly divided by a spurious dissepiment, and containing very numerous superposed ovules attached to a central placenta. In M. spectabilis (?) it is one celled with two parietal placentas, showing clearly, that it cannot well be retained in the genus of which M. communis is the type ; and from which I have accordingly removed it : and lastly, M. capensis (Harvey) which must also be excluded, its ovary