• / 



47 



LAURUS INVOLUCRATA. 



48 



iy 



a 



Filaments generally five, thoug 



length of the corol, inserti 



Anthers oval. 

 Xedarial glands generally four, inserted by pairs into opposite 



petals, one on each side of the filament. 



Pistil 



FEMALE TREE. 



Nectarial glands 



fi 



Germ above, globular. 

 Style length of the petals. 

 Stigma headed. 



A native of the tops of the mountains, where it grows to a small 

 tree of about 24 or 30 feet in height, branches included. Flowers 

 during the cold season. Berries ripe in April. 



This tree has much the appearance of Laurus Camphora, every 

 part of it smells strongly of camphor, the roots and berries exceed- 

 ingly so, and are very acrid. 



I have not been able to discover whether it yields any sort of 

 gum or resin, nor do I find that the natives make any other use of 

 it, than occasionally for fire- wood : except that the fresh bark 

 well bruised and mixed with pepper, is by the hill-people em- 



nlnved fo cure wounds. 



188. 



ATRAGENE ZEYLANICA 



Linn. spec, plant. 7 64. 



Stems and Branches many, climbing over a great extent of bushes. 



Leaves opposite, petioled, two'd, terminated by a tendril. Leaflets 



petioled, hearted or obliquely oval, seven-nerved, sometimes 

 remotely saw'd or notch'd, above pretty smooth, below 

 downy, 3-6 inches long, and 2-5 broad. Petiole round, about 

 four inches long, apex tendril'd. Petiolets curved. 



Panicle terminal, and opposite from the exterior axills, cross- 

 armed, thin, diffuse. 



I have only found it in hedges and in low moist lands over-run with 

 brush-wood near Samulcotah. Flowers during the wet season. 







190. 



HIBISCUS CANNABINUS 



Linn. spec, plant. 9 79. 



Gong-kura of the Telingas. 



Stem straight, simple, from 3 to 7 feet high, round, here and there 



some small inoffensive prickles, otherwise smooth. 



Leaves horizontal, alternate, petioled, those below hearted, about 



the middle of the plant three-four-five-lob'd : lobes lanced, 

 the superior simply linear-lanced, but all are smooth and 

 saw'd; on the under side of the base of the middle nerve is 

 a gland. 



Petiole as long as the leaf, underside prickly. 



Stipules awl'd. 



Flowers axillary, solitary, short-peduncled, very large, pale-sulphur 



colour, with a deep purple bottom. 

 Calyx: exterior 7-8-leaved, awl'd, spreading, inserted into the 



inner calyx near the base ; inner five-cleft : divisions sharp- 

 pointed, bristly, glandulous round the margins, with a large 

 gland on the middle of each division. 



I have found this plant in a cultivated state only. It is herba- 

 ceous, of about three months duration. 



It is much cultivated by the natives. Its leaves are in general 

 used as an esculent vegetable, and taste something like sorrel. The 

 bark is employed as a substitute for hemp, to which it is much 

 inferior both in strength and durability. 



The usual time of cultivation is the cold season, though it will 

 thrive pretty well at all times of the year, if it has sufficient 

 moisture. A rich loose soil suits it best. The seeds are sown 

 about as thick as hemp, but generally mixed with some sort of 

 small or dry grain, rendering it necessary to be sown very thin, 

 that the other crop (which is one of those grain that does not 

 grow nearly so high) may not be too much shaded. It requires 

 about three months from the time it is sown, before it is fit 

 to be pulled up for watering, which operation, with the subse- 

 quent dressing, is similar to that hereafter described for Crotalaria 



Juncea. 



Fig. a. shows a leaf near the top of a full grown plant. 



191. 



DALBERGIA VOLUBILIS. 



189. CYRILLA AQUATIC A. 



Bagga-pattie of the Telingas. 



Root creeping. 



d 



d 



certain, feather-cleft, division filiform ; above they are three- 

 fold, sessile, broad-lanced, 3-7-nerved, saw'd, smooth. 



Raceme terminal, bowing, verticil'd, many-flower'd. 



Bractes three-fold, hearted or leaf-like, but smaller, one-flower'd. 



Flowers large, beautiful, bluish-violet colour. 



Corol: tube widening. 



Anthers: both pairs double, connected. 



Bandy Girgem of the Telingas. 



Branches: their extremities in form of tendrils, often twine round 



whatever they meet with. 

 Leaves alternate, two-faced, feather'd, with an odd one, four or 



five inches long. Leaflets about five pair, not opposite, 



nor alternate, but between the two, oval, small, pointed, 



entire, smooth, interior largest, about one inch long, by 



three quarters broad. 

 Stipules scarcely any. 

 Panicle terminal, large, two-faced, ramifications generally two- 



fork'd, (standing at right angles.) 

 Flowers small, very numerous, blue. 

 Bractes: a small one below each pedicel, and two still smaller 



pressing on the calyx, oblong, rust-colour'd. 



\ 



A very beautiful, fragrant, herbaceous plant, growingon thebor- Corol : banner orbicular, emarginated. Keel below two-parted, 



lers of pools ; appears and flowers during the wet and cold seasons. Filaments two, lateral, five-cleft, &c. as in Dalbergia paniculata. 





