Alocasia indica Schott. 



BY 



T. FETCH, B.A., B.Sc. 



Alocasia indica was recorded as a cultivated plant in Ceylon 

 in Flora of Ceylon, IV., p. 360, in a note which states : " ^. 

 indica Schott, Bata-ala, Desi-ala, S., is much cultivated ; it 

 is closely allied to A. cucullata, but has deeply sagittately 

 cordate leaves, 2-3 feet long, narrower spathe, longer spadix, 

 with the appendage longer than the inflorescence." It was 

 not recorded for Ceylon in Flora British India. 



The fourth volume of the Flora of Ceylon was comiDleted 

 after Trimen's death by Sir J. T>. Hooker. There is conse- 

 quently some doubt as to the authorship of the note quoted. 

 Some of the notes in Vol. IV. are followed by Trimen's name, 

 others by the initials J. D. H. ; but that one is unsigned. 



Trimen included Alocasia indica Schott, Bata-ala, in his 

 " Hortus Zeylanicus," published 1888. Thwaites, in his 

 " Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylanise," stated that Colocasia 

 indica was cultivated in native gardens as a vegetable. As 

 Thwaites throughout uses Colocasia instead of Alocasia, he 

 doubtless meant Alocasia ifldica Schott. 



In seeking confirmation of the statement that Alocasia indica 

 is cultivated in Ceylon, it is found that there is no herbarium 

 specimen from Ceylon either at Kew, the British Museum, or 

 Peradeniya. The only recorded specimen is one collected by 

 Thunberg in Ceylon in 1777-8, and now in his herbarium in 

 Herb. Upsala. According to the evidence, that specimen was 

 determined by Schott. 



Schott's original description of Alocasia indica, in Oest. 

 Bot. Wochenbl., 1854, p. 410, does not cite the Upsala or any 

 other specimens. Engler, in De Candolle, Mon. Phan., II., 

 1879, gives Ceylon as a locality for Alocasia indica, and cites 

 " Thunberg in Herb. Upsal." 



A list of the plants in Thunberg's herbarium, with details 

 of the data on the herbarium sheets, has been published by 

 Professor H. 0. Juel, under the name " Plantse Thunborgianse." 



Auuals of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Perademya, Vol. VII., Part I., July, 191 ». 



