under the allegory of the Sandal tree, to a virtuous man dwelling in a town inhabited by contending factions: Delight of the world! beloved Chandana! stay no longer in this forest, which is overspread with pernicious Vensas, whose hearts are unsound; and who, being themselves confounded in the scorching flames, kindled by their mutual attrition, will consume, not their own families merely, but this whole wood. "'*

Camalata, or Suryacanti, or Sunshine; by Linnæus, Ipomoea. "Its elegant blossoms, are celestial rosy red, love's proper hue, and have justly procured it the name of Camalata, or Love's Creeper. It may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are granted to such as inhabit the heaven of Indra; and if ever flower was worthy of Paradise, it is our charming Ipomoea. Many species of this genus, and of its near ally, the Convolvulus, grow wild in our Indian provinces, some spreading a -purple light over the hedges, some snow

* Jones.

M

white, with a delicate fragrance, one breathing after sunset the odour of cloves."*

The Cadamba, or Nipa, Priyaca, Halipreya, which is also distinguished by other names, appears to be the Nauclea of Linnæus. Of this there are three species on the coast of Coromandel and in the northern Circars; which, we believe, are also to be found in most other parts of Hindustan: 1. The Parvifolia, or Bota-cadamie, which grows to a large tree; its flowers are small, of a light yellow colour; the wood, of a light chestnut, firm and close grained, is used for a variety of purposes. 2. The Cordifolia, or Daduga of the natives; the flowers of which resemble the former; the tree is also large; the wood is of a beautiful light yellowish colour, very close grained, and much used for furniture; planks of it may be had from one to above two feet diameter: both trees are natives of mountainous parts. 3. The Purpurea, or Bagada of the Hindūs, is a small tree, chiefly found in val

* Jones.

=

reath

Hali

other

æus.

coast

cars;

d in

The

vs to

ight

est

or a

lia,

of

Iso

el

ch

ad

ch

5.

be

leys; the flowers are larger than those of
the two others, and of a purple colour.*
"It is one of the most elegant of Indian
trees, and one of the holiest in the opinion
of the Hindūs. The poet Calidas alludes
to it by the name of Nipa; and it may
justly celebrated among the beauties of
summer, when the multitude of aggregate
flowers, each consisting of a common re-
ceptacle perfectly globular, and covered
uniformly with gold-coloured florets, from
which the white thread-form styles con-
spicuously emerge; exhibits a rich and
singular appearance on the branchy trees,
decked with foliage charmingly verdant.
The flowers have an odour very agreeable
in the open air, which the ancient Indians
compared to the scent of new wine, and
they call the plant, Halipreya, or beloved
by Halin, that is, the third Rama, who was
evidently the Bacchus of India."†

* See Roxburgh's Plants of the Coast of Coromandel,
vol. i. pp. 40 and 41.

+ Jones.

Asoca, or Venjula. The flowers of this tree are “fascicled, fragrant just after sunset and before sun-rise, when refreshed by the evening and morning dew; beautifully diversified with tints of orange-scarlet, of pale yellow, and of bright orange, and forms a variety of shades, according to the age of each blossom that opens in the fascicle. The vegetable world scarcely exhibits a richer sight than an Asoca tree in full bloom: it is about as high as an ordinary cherry-tree. It perpetually occurs in the old Indian poems, and in treatises on religious rites."*

Parnasa, or Tulasi, termed by Linnæus Ocymum, sacred to Krishna, and highly venerated by the Hindus, "who have given one of its names to a sacred grove of their Parnassus, on the banks of the Yamuna. A fable truly Ovidian is told in the Puranas concerning the metamorphosis of the nymph Tulasi, who was beloved by the

* Jones.

pastoral god, into the shrub which has
since borne her name."*

næus.

Patali, or Patala, the Bignonia of LinThe flowers of this tree are exquisitely fragrant, are preferred by bees to all other flowers, and compared by poets to the quiver of Camadeva, the god of love. The Patali blossoms early in the spring, before a leaf appears on the tree, but the fruit is not ripe till the following winter."+

Nagacesara, the Mesua of Linnæus, and which is described in the Hortus Malabaricus, under the name of Balutta Tsiampacum. "This tree is one of the most beautiful on the earth; the delicious odour of its blossoms justly gives them a place in the quiver of Camadeva. In the poem called Naishadha, there is a wild but elegant couplet, where the poet compares the white of the Nagacesara, from which the bees were scattering the pollen of the numerous gold-coloured anthers, to an alabaster wheel on which Cama was whetting

» Jones. + Idem. ‡ Vol. iii. p. 63.