BOTANY OF THE CEYLON PATANAS. 303 
Flora of the Uva Patanas. 
The Uva Patana country is an undulating plain rising from 
2000 feet in the east to 4500 feet in the west and south. 
Although, as will be seen later, this area receives no incon- 
siderable rainfall, ib is nevertheless for the greater portion of 
the year dry and parched. The flora is poor, its main consti- 
tuents being several species of coarse wiry grasses, belonging 
principally to the genera Panicum, Paspalum, Sporobolus, Aris- 
tida, Chloris, Andropogon, Imperata, etc., species of which are 
characteristic of Savannahs (3)* and Pampas (4) in other parts 
of the world. The tree-vegetation of the Uva patanas is almost 
entirely represented by comparatively few individuals belonging 
to two species— Careya arborea, Roxb., and PAyllanthus Emblica, 
Linn. The first is a small umbrella-shaped Myrtaceous tree, with 
thiek glabrous leaves, bearing considerable resemblance to an 
oak; this tree is so characteristic of the patanas be- 
tween 3000 feet and 4500 feet, that it is usually known as the 
“ Patana Oak." The second is especially characteristic of the 
patanas at and below 3000 feet ; its leaves are deciduous during 
the dry season (5). These two species occur together in abund- 
ance on the so-called * Talawa-patanas "Tt at about 3000 feet, 
giving to the country an orchard-like appearanee (6). In situa- 
tions which are favourable to the accumulation of soil, which, as 
will be seen, is practically absent over a great part of the area, 
numerous small arborescent species have established themselves. 
These are species which, for the most part, are characteristic of 
the dry-country forest to the east (v. infra): e. g., Lasiosiphon erio- 
cephalus, Dodonea viscosa, Myrsine capitellata, Jasminum an- 
gustifolium, Glochidion montanum, Breynia patens, ete. Others, 
however, are equally characteristic of the wet-country forest to the 
west: viz., Heptapleurum stellatum, Canthium sp., Microglossa 
zeylanica, Embelia viridiflora, Glochidion sp., Osbeckia sp., ete. 
Others, again, form a more marked feature of the patanas them- 
selves: these include Knoxia platycarpa, Vernonia Wightiana, 
* Junghuhn states that in Java and Sumatra the destruction of the forests 
has been followed by the appearance of savannahs whose vegetation consists 
almost entirely of the grass Imperata arundinacea (“ Alang”) and a few 
scattered trees of Phyllanthus Emblica: vide Grisebach, ‘La Vegetation du 
Monde’ (French trans. by Tehihatehef), Paris, 1876, vol. ii. p. 56. 
T i.e. “ tree-patanas.” 
