kombook

Updated: May 13, 2025

Here silence reigned, disturbed only by the murmuring hum of glittering insects, or the shrill clamour of the plum-headed parroquet and the flute-like calls of the golden oriole. We crossed the broad sandy beds of two rivers over-arched by tall trees, the most conspicuous of which is the Kombook , from the calcined bark of which the natives extract a species of lime to be used with their betel.

Sir James Emerson Tennent - Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon

The most remarkable was the kombook, from the branches of which hung the pods of the large puswel bean. The pods are the most gigantic I have seen, measuring six feet in length, by five or six inches in width. From the calcined bark of this tree the natives extract a sort of lime, with which they mix the betel they are constantly chewing.

William Henry Giles Kingston - My First Voyage to Southern Seas