164 FETCH : 



specimen was lost before bis herbarium came into the hands of 

 Linnaeus. His description of the colour of the flower of 

 Curcuma longa may be partly from memory and partly from 

 the plant grown at Ley den. 



There is, however, another possible explanation of Her- 

 mann's description of the colour of the flower. The Ceylon 

 specimens grown by Dr. Valeton had white bracts and cream- 

 coloured flowers with a yellow median stripe, and flowering 

 specimens of Turmeric from three localities in Ceylon agree 

 with that, with the addition that there is a very obscure 

 purple flush at the edges of some of the bracts. But in another 

 specimen obtained from a native garden as Kaha., the bracts 

 are white, with purple or reddish-purple tips, the colour 

 becoming more pronoimced on the uppermost bracts. Un- 

 fortunately the flowers in this specimen were not sufficiently 

 developed for determination ; they appeared to be purple. 

 Thus, it is probable that more than one species is cultivated 

 as Turmeric in Ceylon, and Hermann's description of the colour 

 of the flowers may refer to two species cultivated as Kaha. 

 That Curcuma domestica Val. is so cultivated is certain, but 

 that fact does not close the subject. The flower of the 

 species with purple bracts was central, so it affords no assist- 

 ance as regards Hermann's figure. 



The followmg papers are not recent, but they have not 

 hitherto been taken into account by Ceylon botanists : — 



(9) Prain, D. Some Additional Species of Convolvulaceae. 



Jour. Asiatic Soc, Bengal, LXIII., Pt. II., 



pp. 83-115 (1894). 



The following extracts refer to Ceylon species : — 



Rivea ornata Choisy var. typica. Ceylon, in the hotter 

 parts of the Island. " There is nothing to add to Mr. Clarke's 

 excellent description of this plant, which, as he remarks, 

 appears strictly confined to South India and Ceylon." 



