“The Gutta Taban tree belongs to the natural order Sapotaceæ, but differs so much from all described genera, that I am inclined to consider it a new one. I shall, therefore, endeavor to give its general character, leaving the honor of naming it to a more competent botanist, especially as, from want of {218} complete specimens, I have not quite satisfied myself regarding the stamens and fruit.
“The tree is from sixty to seventy feet high, from two to three feet in diameter. In its general aspect it resembles the Durian (Durio Zibethinus, Linn.), so much so as to strike the most superficial observer. The leaves are alternate, obovate-lanceolate, entire, coriaceous, their upper surface is of a pale green, and their under surface covered with a close, short, reddish-brown hair. The flowers are axillary, from one to three in the axils, supported on short curved pedicels, and numerous along the extremities of the branches. The calyx is inferior, persistent coriaceous, divided into six sepals, which are arranged in double series. The corolla is monopetalous, hypogenous, and divided, like the calyx, into six acuminate segments. The stamens, inserted into the throat of the corolla, are in a single series, and variable in number, but to the best of my observation, their normal number is twelve; they are most generally all fertile. The anthers are supported on slender bent filaments, and open by two lateral pores. The ovary is superior, terminated by a long single style, and six-celled; the cells are monospermous. The fruit is unknown to me.
“Only a short time ago the Taban tree was tolerably abundant on the Island of Singapore, but already, (middle of 1847) all the large timber has been felled. Its geographical range, however, appears to be considerable, it being found all up the Malayan peninsula, as far as Penang, where I have ascertained it to be plentiful. Its favorite localities are the alluvial tracts on the foot of hills, where it forms the principal portion of the jungle.
“The quantity of solid gutta obtained from each tree varies from five to twenty catties, so that, taking the average of ten catties, which is a tolerably liberal one, it will require the destruction of ten trees to produce one picul. Now, the quantity exported from Singapore to Europe, from the 1st of January, 1845, to the middle of 1847, amounted to 6,918 piculs, to obtain {219} which, 69,180 trees must have been sacrificed! How much better would it be to adopt the method of tapping the tree practised by the Burmese, in obtaining the caoutchouc, than to continue the present process of extermination.”[18]
[18] T. Oxley, in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i, p. 22–30.
A mercantile house in Singapore lately received from Manilla a gum which was supposed by those who sent it to be Gutta Taban, but proved a different substance. It was accompanied by specimens of the tree producing it, and a note stating that the gum abounded in the Philippine Islands. As it will probably make its appearance in England, and perhaps become of some importance, I may add that those specimens presented to me by the merchant, belong to the genus Ficus; but whether to a new or an already described species, want of books prevented me from determining.—Hooker’s Jour. of Botany.
ON GAMBIR. BY BERTHOLD SEEMAN.
Black pepper (Piper Nigrum, Linn.) and Gambir (Uncaria Gambir, Roxb.) are grown in great quantities [in Singapore], and exclusively by the Chinese, for both these articles are so exceedingly cheap, that Europeans have not deemed it worth their while to engage in the speculation. Pepper and Gambir plantations are always combined, because the refuse of the gambir leaves serve as an excellent manure for the pepper; and moreover, what is of equal, if not greater importance, kills the Lalang, (Andropogon caricosus, Linn.), a plant which, like the couch-grass (Triticum repens, Linn.), spreads with astonishing rapidity over the fields, growing so close together and so high, that within a short spate of time valuable plantations {220} are rendered useless, and many have to be given up from the utter impossibility of freeing the ground from this weed.
The process by which gambir is extracted and prepared is simple. The leaves are boiled in water, until all their astringent property is extracted. The decoction is then poured into another vessel, in which it becomes inspissated, and, when nearly dry, is cut in small square pieces, and thus brought into the market. M’Culloch states that sago is used in thickening it. This, however, at least in Singapore, is not the case; but, instead of sago, a piece of wood is dipped into the vessel, by which the desired effect is produced. It must, indeed, be an extraordinary substance, the mere dipping of which into the fluid can cause it to become a thickened mass. I was very eager to obtain a piece of this wood; unluckily, the Chinaman whose laboratory I visited, could not be persuaded to part with his, and a friend of mine, who was exerting himself to procure a sample, had not succeeded at the time of the Herald’s departure: he promised, however, to send it to England, accompanied by the Malayan name, and specimens of the tree.—Hooker’s Journal of Botany.
ON THE GALBANUM PLANT. BY F. A. BUSHE.
The author states, that in his travels in Persia he discovered the plant which yields galbanum. In June, 1848, he found it on the declivities of the Demawend. It is a ferula, from the stalks of which a liquid issues abundantly, by the odor and nature of which he immediately recognised galbanum, and his guides assured him, moreover, that galbanum is gathered from this plant. The author has not yet distinctly determined {221} the plant. It appears to differ from Ferula erubescens (Annales des Sciences, iii., Sér. 1844, p. 316,) only by the absence of commissural vitæ; but as neither Aucher-Eloy, nor Kotschy, who have both collected the Ferula erubescens, make any mention of its yielding galbanum, the author is in doubt whether his plant be the same, or a variety of it. Don’s genus galbanum (Trib. Sibrinæ) and Lindley’s Opaïdia (Trib. Smyrneæ) do not agree with the plant seen by Bushe, unless that both of these authors have made their descriptions from imperfect fruits, or that there exist other plants which yield galbanum.—The plant which Bushe describes is called in some parts of Persia, Khassuch, (not Kasneh, which means Cichor intybus, nor Gäshnis, which is Coriand. sativum), and appears to be confined to certain districts of Persia. In the whole large district of the Elburs-chain, from the south-east angle to the south-west angle of the Caspian Sea, it is only found in the neighborhood of the Demawend; but here at an elevation of from 4000 to 8000 feet, and even on the declivity of the top of the Demawend. It exists neither on the mountains of Talysch, nor in the districts of Karadagh and Tabris. It is said to re-appear on the Mount Alwend, near Hamadan, and in the neighborhood of the great salt desert. Near Hamadan Aucher-Eloy has gathered his Ferula erubescene, and this supports the supposition that the author’s plant is the same. In the salt desert itself Bushe did not meet with it again. The inhabitants of the Demawend collect the gum resin, which issues spontaneously from the lower part of the stalk; they do not make incisions in the plant; but it is not at this place that the galbanum is collected for commercial purposes. When fresh, the gum resin is white like milk, liquid, and somewhat glutinous. In the air it soon becomes yellow, elastic, and finally solid. The odor is rather strong, unpleasant, and similar to that of our commercial galbanum.—Central Blatt, für 1852, No. xiii.