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4 


OTANICAL  DESCRIPTION' 


OF  THE 


BENJAMIN  TREE 


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A. 


By  JONAS  DRYANDER,  M.  A.  Libr.  R.  S. 
md  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Stockholm, 


From  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 


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Read  at  the  ROYAL  SOCIETY,  May  17,  1787, 


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THOUGH  Garcias  ab  Horto,  Grim,  and  Sylvius, 
were  acquainted  with  the  real  tree  from  which  Benjamiii 
or  Benzoin  is  collected,  their  defcriptions  of  it  are  fo  imperfect 
anil  infufficient  for  its  botanical  determination,  that  fucceeding 
botanifts  have  fallen  into  many  errors  concerning  it ;  and  it  is 
remarkable,  that  although  this  drug  was  always  imported  from 
the  Eaft-Indies,  moft  of  the  later  writers  on  the  Materia 

1 

Medica  have  conceived  it  to  be  collefted  from  a  fpecies  qf 
!■  Laurus,  native  of  Virginia,  to  which,  from  this  erroneous 
>  fuppofition,  they  have  given  the  trivial  name  of  Benzoin. 
This  miftake  feems  to  have  originated  with  Mr.  Ray,  who  in 
his  Hiftoria  Plantarum,  Vol.  II.  p.  1845.  at  fhe  elld  of  his 
account  of  the  Arbor  Benivifera  of  Garcias,  fays:  “  Ad  nos 
fcripfit  D.  Tancredus  Robinson  Arborem  refiniferam  odo- 
“  ratam  foliis  citrinis  praedi&ae  haud  abfimilem  tranfmiflam 
“  fuiffe  e  Virginia  a  D.  Banister,  ad  illuftriflnnum  Prae- 
“  fulem  D.  Henr.  Compton,  in  cujus  inftruftifiirno  horto 

[  cc  culta  eft. - Arbor  ifta  Virginiana  Citrii,  vel  Limonii  foliis 

“  Benzoinum  fundens,  in  horto  reverendiffimi  Epilcopi  culta.” 

This  error  was  detedfed  by  Linnaeus,  but  another  was 
fubftituted  by  him  in  its  place;  for  in  his  Mantiha  Plantarum 

Altera, 

* 


4  Mr.  Dryander’s  Defcription  of 

Altera,  he  tells  us,  that  Benjamin  is  furnifhed  by  a  fhrub  de~ 
fcribed  there  under  the  name  of  Croton  Benzoe,  and  after¬ 
wards  in  the  Supplementum  Plantarum,  defcribes  again  the 
fame  plant,  under  the  name  of  Terminalia  Benzoin,  M. 
Jacquin,  who  had  been  informed  that  this  fhrub  was  called 
by  the  French  Bienjoint ,  fuppofes,  with  reafon,  that  the  fimilar- 
found  of  that  word  with  Benjoin r  the  French  name  for  Benja¬ 
min,  may  have  occafioned  this  miftake  *■-. 

Since  that  period  Dr.  Houttuyn  has  defcribed  the  Benja¬ 
min  Tree  of  Sumatra;  but  for  want  of  good  fpecimens  has 
been  fo  unfortunate  as  to  miflake  the  genus  to  which  it  belongs. 

It  is  hoped^therefore,  that  the  following  defcription  and  annexed; 
figure  (fee  Tab.  XII.)  may  not  be  unworthy  a  place  in  the  Phi- 
lofophicah  Tranfa&ions ;  they  are  made  from  dried  fpecimens 
procured  from.  Sumatra  by  Mr.  Marsden,  F.  R.  S.  at  the 
requeft  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Bart.  P.  R.  S.  and  clearly  prove 
that  this  tree  agrees  in  the  parts  of  fru&ification  with  the 
Styrax  of  Linnaeus. 

STYRAX  Benzoin,  foliis  oblongis  acuminatis  fubtus  tomen- 
tofis,  racemis  compofitis  longitudine  foliorum; 

Benjui.  Garcias  ab  Bor  to  in  Clujii  Exotic  is,  p.  155. 

Arbor  Benzoin i.  Grim  in  E phemer.  Acad .  Nat.  Curiof.  Dec. 
2.  Ann.  L  pag.  370.  fig.  31.  Sylvius  in  Valentini  Hifioria, 
Sitnplicium,  pag.  487. 

Benzuin.  Radermacher  in  Adi.  Societ.  Batavia ,  vol.  III.  pag'. 
44-  - 

Benjamin  or  Benzoin.  Marjden's  Hifl.  of  Sumatra ,  pag.  123.' 
Laurus  Benzoin.  Houltuyn  in  Adi.  Harlem vol.  XXI.  pag ^ 
265.  tab.  7,  l 

Habitat  in  Sumatra.  b  . 

*  .  .. 

*  Hort,  Vindob.  vol.  III.  p.  51.  1 

DESCR IPT IO. 


the  ftenjamin  Tree  of  Sumatra*. 


DESCRIPT  I  O. 

Rami  teretes,.  tomentofi. 

Folia  alterna,  petiolata,  oblonga,.  integerrima,  acuminata,  ve- 
nofa,  fupra  glabra,  fubtus  tomentofa,  palmaria.  Petioli 
teretes,  ftriati,  canaliculati,  tomentofi,  breviflimi. 

Racemi  axillares,  compofiti,  longitudine  fere  foliorum.  Pedun - 
culi  communes  tomentofi part  tales  alterni,  paten  tes,  to¬ 
mentofi.  Pedicelli  breviflimi.  Flores  fecundi* 

Calyx  campanulatus,  obfoletiflime  quinquedentatus,  extus  to- 
mentofus,  linea  longior. 

Petala  quinque,  (bafi  forte  connata)  linearia,  obtufa,  extus  to- 
mento  tenuiflimo  cinerea,  calyce  quadruplo  longiora. 

Filamenta  decern,  receptaculo  inferta,  petalis  paulo  breviora, 
inferne  connata  in  cylindrum  longitudine  calycis,  fuperne 
infra  antheras  ciliata.  Anther re  lineares,  filamentis  longi- 
tudinaliter  adnatae,  iifque  dimidio  breviores. 

Germen  fuperum,  ovatum,  tomentofum.  Stylus  filiformis,  fta- 
minibus  longior.  Stigma  fimplex. 


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