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A VISIT TO KUNADIYAPARAWITA MOUNTAIN", CEYLON. 143 



Notes on a Visit to Kunadippnmwita JMountnin, Ceylon 



By Frederick Lewis, F.L.S. 



(\Yith Text-figure.) 



[Read 20th March, 1910.] 



The object of this paper is to draw attention to the influence upon plant 

 (Hsirihution of very special environment. The case selected for consideration 

 is one of the most renuirkal^le of the Ceylonese monntains, and one that may 

 ho reivardeJ as nnique, both from its abnormal climatic conditions and from 

 its physical surronndings. Tlie resiiUin;^ feature that apper.rs to be most 

 striking is the high proportion of Ceylon endemics persisting or surviving 

 at the ''summit of the mountain itself, a situation ^vhieh ordinarily is not 

 specially inimical to tbe successful growth of forms found wild, both in 

 Ceylon and in neighbouring countries. 



The material obtahiod from the summit of the hill under consideraiion may 

 not be complete, but it is as full as could be made in a day's systematic 

 collection within an area of very limited extent, and for that reason may be 



taken as comprehensive. 



This curious mountain is situated in the Ratnapura district, in the Province 

 of Sabaragamuwa, and stands nearly due west of " Adam's Peak." It is not 

 connected with the great cliain of mountains that forms the division between 

 the Central und Sabaragamuwa Provinces, of which the Sacred Peak of Adam 

 forms the most conspicuous point, being divided therefrom by a deep and 

 wide valley. It rises with great abruptness from a moderately broad but 

 much grooved base to an altitude of 518G feet above the sea, and incompletely 

 surrounded by high forest. On its eastern flank it presents a bold precipice 

 of rock, that narrows to a shoulder of terrific steepness on the south, while 

 on the iiorth and we,st the mountain maybe described as walled by precipices 

 of varying height. The summit is small in extent, but is slightly hollowed, 

 giving risl to 1 small stream, which rapidly descends over numberless falls 

 into die country to the south. Roughly speidving, this summit may be 

 regarded as an elevated island, of r>000 feet altitude, in a sea of forest. 

 Moreover, the mountain stands in the direct path of the S.W. monsoon, 

 \\hieh rages over its crest with enormous force during the period (from about 

 April to September) when the S.W. winds are at their maximum.- On the 

 west there are no mountains high enough, or near enough, to break the force 



LINN. JOURN. — BOTANY, VOL. XLV. 



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