MORINDA, is a plant, of which a very meagre description has been given in the Encyclopaedia, though it is of much importance in oriental commerce. It is cultivated to a great extent in the province of Malacca in the East Indies, where it furnishes a valuable dye-stuff; and is thus described by William Hunter, Esq; in the fourth volume of the Asiatic Researches:
"It is a tree of a middling size; the root branchy; the trunk columnar, erect, covered with a scabrous bark. Branches, from the upper part of the trunk, scattered; of the structure of the trunk. Leaves (terminal) oval, obtuse, entire (mature), opposite, decussated, ovate, pointed at both ends, smooth, with very short petioles. Stipules, lanceol, very small, withering. Peduncles, from the axils of the leaves, solitary, bearing an aggregate flower. Calyx, common receptacle roundish, collecting the sessile flowers into an irregular head. Perianth, most entire, scarce observable above. Coral, one-petaled, funnel-form. Tube, cylindric: Border, five cleft; the divisions lanceol. Stamen: Filaments, five, thread-form, arising from the tube, and adhering to it through two thirds of their length, a little shorter than the tube. Anthers, linear, erect. Pistil. Germ, beneath, four-celled, containing the rudiments of four seeds. Style, thread-form, longer than the filaments. Stigma, two-cleft, thickish. Pericarp, common, irregular, divided on the surface into irregular angular spaces; composed of berries, pyramidal, compressed on all sides by the adjacent ones, and concreted with them; lopped; containing towards the base a fleshy pulp. Seeds, in each berry four; towards the point oblong, externally convex, internally angular."
The species here described is the morinda arborea pedunculata of Linnæus. It grows best in a black rich soil, free from stones, in situations moderately moist, not too high, yet sufficiently elevated to prevent the rain water from stagnating, and where a supply of water can be had for the dry months. As the colouring matter, for which alone it is valuable, resides chiefly in the bark of the root, the small twigs, which contain little wood, bear a higher price than the larger pieces. The natives employ it in dyeing a pale red, or clay colour; which Mr Hunter says is more valuable for its durability than for its beauty. They likewise use it in dyeing a dark purple or chocolate colour: but for the process, in both cases, we must refer to the original memoir.