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“...PLANTS
of the
COAST OF COROMANDEL;
selected from
DRAWINGS AND DESCRIPTIONS
presented to
THE HON. COURT OF DIRECTORS OF THE
EAST INDIA COMPANY.
BY
WILLIAM ROXBURGH, M.D.
published, by their order, under the direction
OF
SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART.
p. r. s.
VOL. I.
london:
printed by w. bulmer and co.
for george nicol, bookseller to his majesty,
PALL-MALL.
1795....”
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“...PREFACE.
*
The present Fasciculus of Plants growing on the Coast of Coromandel, being the first of a.progressive
work, with which the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company has determined to
favour the public, it is hoped, will prove as acceptable to the lovers of Botany in general, as useful
at the Company's establishments abroad.
It is intended that the selection should be made from five hundred drawings and descriptions, pre-
sented to the Honourable Court of Directors by Dr. William Roxburgh, one of the Company's medical
servants, and their Botanist in the Carnatic; and, with a more immediate view to utility, while
preference will be given to subjects connected either with medicine, the arts, cy: manufactures, the
liberality o.f the# Jdonourable Court of Directors encourages the admission of new plants, or of such
as have hitherto been imperfectly described, although their qualities and uses may as yet remain
unexplored.
After all that has been already done, India still...”
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“...acceptable to the
" public; particularly in respect to the article of tin ore." He mentioned at the same time his having
had the honour of letters from the President of the.Royal Society, and the Honourable Charles Greville,
requesting specimens ofhis collection, which it was his intention to transmit to them, as the best means
of rendering his "discoveries useful in England. He intimated also his intention of sending tqSt* Helena,
by the ships then on departure, the seeds of such esculent and other plants, and of such treSor fflifubs
as he had then got ready, and might probably be of use in that island.
Having now determined to devote his future time entirely to the service of the India Company, the
Board of Madras was pleased, in 1780, to make an addition to his salary, which met with the appro-
bation of the Honourable Court of Directors.
Hel^inhlZw5 "0tf rng the rr; be9Ueathed 10 Sir j0Seph Banks ; but -count of it is given by
nennmgs. m his description of Tanjore, and of th e Danish colony...”
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“...the following year
he made a second excursion to Columbo.
In the beginning of June, 1782, Dr. Patrick Russell, on his arrival in India, had the pleasure of
meeting with Dr. Koenig at Tranquebar, who not only communicated the catalogue of his Coromandel
collection of plants, but as an inducement to engage in Indian Botany, favoured him with a number
of specimens. From that time commenced a correspondence, which was continued till within a fort-
night of Dr. Koenig's death.
In 1784, Roenig fulfilled the promise he had given of a visit to his old friend Mr. Claud Russell,
then chief at Vizagapatam. It was on his way to Bengal; but as he made some stay at Vizagapatam,
Dr. Russell had time to submit to his examination a pretty large collection of plants made in that
district, and to profit by his assistance in arranging them/ He took the opportunity also off urging to
Dr. Koenig, (what lie had more than once hinted before in correspondence,) the propriety of trans-
mitting to the Court of Directors...”
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“...India.
Considering it however as a public loss, if the design of Koenig should be entirely relinquished; and
conceiving that many descriptions and remarks would be found among his papers, whife drawings from
the living plants might be made in India, Dr. Russell resolved to attempt a work limited to the useful
plants of Coromandel; which, though perhaps less generally interesting to the Botanists in Europe, he
was inclined \o think might prove of real service to India.
His plan was first communicated to the Governor of Madras, but afterwards explained more fully in
a memorial addressed to the Medical Board; and meeting with the unanimous approbation of both, it
was transmitted to the Honourable Court of Directors.
In the interim, circular letters, with a list of the plants proposed for the first publication, was tsent
by the Medical Board to the subordinate settlements, requesting it might be favoured with any infor-
mation respecting the subjects in question, which the medical gentlemen...”
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“...PREFACE. v
#
had retained a painter constantly employed in drawing plants, which he accurately described, and
added such remarks on their uses as he had learned from experience, or collected from the natives.
Of these drawings and descriptions, which he devoted to the Honourable Court of Directors, the
first parcel was received in 1791; others followed in succession; and the last parcel, which completed
the number of five hundred, arrived in 1794. It is from these that the present Selection has been made;
but many more drawings remain in India, ready to be sent home by the first opportunity t
Dr. Roxburgh's industry has also for some years been employed in the cultivation of pepper and
indigo, in one of the Northern Circars; and, besides a letter on the qualities of the Swietenia Bark,
published by order of the Directors, he has communicated other discoveries, to be found in the Philo-
sophical Transactions, the Indian Repertory, and the Asiatic Researches. Such commendable zeal in
the...”
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“...Ebony Tree; in the first volume of
the Transactions of the Society of Lund.
Several letters, relating to the Natural History of the East
Indies; in different volumes of the Transactions of the Royal
Society of Copenhagen, and of the Society of Berlin : as also
in the Naturforscher.
A great number of plants discovered by Koenig, are found
in Retzii Observationes Botanicae. In the third Fasciculus,
are printed Koenig's Descriptiones Monandrarum; and in
the sixth, his Descriptiones Epidendrorum.
An Account of his voyage to Ceylon, in 17 7 7, is found
in Hennings's Description of Tanjore, and the Danish colony
at Tranquebar.
In part XX. of the Naturforscher is an Account of a new
Genus of Plants, called Xylocarpus.
In the ninth volume of the Commentationes of the Society
of Gottingen is a Memoir, by Professor Murray, on the Trees
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 the...”
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“...PREFACE
The present Fasciculus of Plants growing on the Coast of Coromandel, being the first of a.progressive
work, with which the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company has determined to
favour the public, it is hoped, will prove as acceptable to the lovers of Botany in general, as useful
at the Company's establishments abroad.
It is intended that the selection should be made from five hundred drawings and descriptions, pre-
sented to the Honourable Court of Directors by Dr. William Roxburgh, one of the Company's medical
servants, and their Botanist in the Carnatic; and, with a more immediate view to utility, while
preference will be given to subjects connected either with medicine, the arts, qr manufactures, the
liberality o/the# JHonourable Court of Directors encourages the admission of new plants, or of such
as have hitherto been imperfectly described, although their qualities and uses may as yet remain
unexplored.
After all that has been already done, India still presents...”
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“...the
nectarial glands into a perforated receptacle.
Anthers quadrangular, opening on each side with an oval lid.
Germ below, egged.
Style none.
Stigma small, immersed in the perforation of the receptacle of the
filaments and nectarial glands.
Capsule globular, wrinkled, one-celled, one-valved, does not open,
size* of a cherry, ends in two long, obtuse, lanced, membrana-
ceous wings.
Seed one.
OBSERVATIONS.
This grows to be a very large tree, is chiefly a native of the moun-
tainous 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 come out soon after.
The wood of this tree is white and very light, is employed to
make cattamarans (rafts), when to be had, in preference to any other.
2. SIRIUM MYRTIFQLIUM.
Linn. Mant. 200.
Sandal Wood Tree.
Leaves opposite, short-petioled, spreading,lanced, entire, waved,
smooth, shining, about two inches long, and three-quarters of
an inch broad.
Stipules none.
Raceme t...”
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“...is a small biennial, rarely triennial plant, it grows in very
light dry sandy ground near the sea. Flowers during the latter part
of the wet season ; seed ripe in January .
Itris much cultivated on the coast of Coromandel, and grows best
in the purest and lightest sand, there its roots descend to a great
depth. Cattle are penned upon the ground for some time before it
is sown, to manure it, or some other manure employed, generally
the lightest; it is then'cleared of weeds, and its surface made level,
if not so before. The seeds are mixed with much sand, and sown as
soon as the rains begin in June or July (that is in the Circars); the
sand is mixed with the seed to enable 'the sower to sow it suffi-
ciently thin; it requires to be often watered if showers are not fre-
quent, till the plants are about two or three inches high. The first
watering is peculiar; some fresh cow-dung is mixed with the water,
the chief object of which is to give the sand at the surface some de-
gree of adhesion,...”
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“...subdivision.
Flowers small, white, very numerous, fragrant.
Calyx and Corol as described in the Supplementum Plantarum,
only ofteney six than five-cleft.
JVectary very small, often wanting,
Stamens oftener six than five.
Stigma two-cleft: divisions obtuse, spreading.
Drupe within the enlarged inflated dry calyx, obtusely four-sided,
woolly, spongy, dry.
Mit exceeding hard, four-celled.
This most useful tree is a native of various parts of India, viz. of
the mountainous part of the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, of the
5. STRYCHNOS POTATORUM.
Linn. SuppL 148....”
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“...11
TECTONA GRANDIS.
mountains bordering on the banks of the Godavery above Rajah-
mundry, Pegu, kc. &c. Lord Cornwallis and Colonel Kyd have
begun some time ago to introduce it into Bengal, where it thrives
well. On this coast it flowers in the hot season. Seed ripe in
o
August and September.
The wood of this tree, the only useful part of it, from long expe-
rience has been found to be by far the most useful timber in Asia;
it is light, easily worked, and at the same time both strong and
durable: that which grows near the banks of the Godavery is
beautifully veined, considerably closer in the grain and heavier than
any other I have seen; it is therefore particularly fit for furniture,
gun carriages, &c. where small timber is wanted. For ship building
the teke is reckoned superior to any other sort of wood, being light,
strong, and very durable, either in or out of the water. Pegu pro-
duces the largest quantity, the large rivers there enable the natives to
bring it down to the sea ports...”
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“... smooth, from four to six
inches long, and about three-eighths of an inch broad.
Raceme lateral, long, few-flowered.
Fl&wers large, beautiful whif?, with a small tinge of the rose, and
striated with purple veins, inodorous.
Xectary and Stamens as in Asclepias and Pergularia.
Follicles oblong, inflated.
It is a twining perennial, grows in hedges and among bushes on
the banks of water courses, pools, &c. casts its leaves during the
dry season; is in flower and foliage during the rainy. On this
coast I do not find that the natives ever eat it, nor apply it to any
purpose whatever. Cattle eat it. Its elegant flowers render it well
deserving of a place in the flower garden.
12.
SEMECARPUS ANACARDIUM.
Linn. Suppl. 182.
Nella-jiedy of the Telingas.
Marking-nut of the English.
Anacardium orientale of the Materia Medica.
Trunk very large, straight, high, covered with grey scabrous bark,
the bark of the younger parts smooth, light ash-colour; its
inner substance contains in crevices a quantity of...”
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“...large tree. Flowers
during the wet season. Seed ripe in January and February.
This tree is by no means common on this coast, and it is only
among the aboxementioned mountains that I have found it wild.
It is also a native of the south-west frontier of the Bengal province,
and probably of many other parts. The markets over India are
supplied with wood from Siam, and the Malay countries to the east-
ward. I have some thousands of young trees about the Company's
pepper plantations, which thrive well, and in the course of a few
years will be fully as large as what is generally met with at market,
although, like others of this nature, the colour of the wood improves
by age, and ought therefore to be left till the colour has attained to
its utmost degree of perfection. The uses of this wood in dying are
numerous throughout Asia; it is an ingredient in the red dye of
this coast, commonly called the Chay dye, as may be seen above
under the description of Oldenlandia umbellata.
Where a cheap red...”
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“...long as the large stamen.
Stigma simple, incurved.
Capsules, from one to three, globular, size of a large pea, one-celled,
one-valved, not opening, each is enlarged with three unequal
spreading, membranaceous, wedge-shaped, obtuse wings, be-
sides a small erect one in the centre.
Seed single, globular, affixed to the bottom of the capsule.
It is a large climbing woody shrub, a native of the Circar moun-
tains. Flowering time the wet and cold season. It is cultivated in
our gardens all over the coast, on account of the beauty and fra-
grance of its flowers.
19. BASSIA LATIFOLIA.
Mahwah Tree. Transact, of the Society of Bengal, vol. 1. p. 300.
Ipie of the Telingas.
Illipay of the Tamuls.
Oil Tree of the English.
*
Trunk straight, but short, covered with smooth ash-coloured Bark.
Branches very numerous; the lower spreading horizontally.
Leaves alternate, petiohM, crowded about the extremities of the
branches, oblong, rigid, smooth above, below somewhat whit-
ish, from four to eight inches long...”
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“...pediceled, lanced, downy.
Style ascending, a little larger than the filaments. ^
Stigma small, glandulous. ^
Legume pediceled, large, pendulous, all but the apex, where the
seed is lodged leafy, downy, about six inches long, by two
broad, never opens of itself.
Seed one, lodged at the point of the legume, oval, much compressed,
smooth, brown, from one and a quarter to one and a half inch
long, and about one broad. *
This is a middle sized, or rather a large tree, not common on the
low lands of this coast, but very common among the mountains;
casts its leaves during the cold season; they come out again with the
flowers about tjie months af March and April; seed ripe in June
and July.
From natural fissures, and wounds made in the bark of this tree,
during the hot season, there issues a most beautiful red juice, which
soon hardens into a ruby-coloured, brittle, astringent gum; but it
soon loses its beautiful colour if exposed to the air. To preserve the
colour, the gum must be gathered as soon as...”
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“...leguminous, unitej in form of a star, one-celled, one-
valved, opening lengthways, on the outside covered with
yellow down, and many stiff burning hairs.
Seeds from three to five, oblong, chesnut-coloured, inserted alter-
nately into the margins of the capSules.
male flowers.
Calyx, Stamen, and columnar Receptacle as in the hermaphrodite.
Pistil: the rudiments of the germs only, without any appearance of
a style. ,
This is a very large tree, chiefly a native of the mountainous
countries on the coast; casts its leaves about the end of the wet sea-
son; flowers during the cold; the leaves come out with the fruit
about the beginning of the hot season.
The wood of this tree is soft and spongy; towards the centre of
large trees it is reddish. I do not know of any use it is put to, ex-
cept to make Hindoo guitars.
I observed that the water in which I kept green branches for exa-
mination, became thick, like a clear, glutinous jelly.
Bark exceedingly astringent, tinges the saliva reddish. Seeds...”
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