328 NOTES. 



NOTES. 



The Bird Chilli. — The common Nayi-miris {Capsicum 

 minimum Roxb.) is known as the Bird Chilli. On January 20, 

 1918, I observed three or four crows {Corone macrorhyncha) 

 round some low bushes of this plant, busily engaged in 

 devouring the green, unripe fruits. They seized the fruit 

 with their beaks, and with a vigorous tug broke it off just 

 above the level of the calyx. — T.P. 



Desmodium tortuosum DC. — This species occurs as an 

 occasional weed in the neighbourhood of Kandy, and is not 

 uncommon in flower beds in the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya. There is a specimen in the Peradeniya Herba- 

 rium labelled " Desmodium sp., R. Bot. Garden, 1860," by 

 Thwaites, and another, similarly labelled by Thwaites, with 

 the addition in the same handwriting, " from Mauritius, 

 H. de Alwis." This additional note would seem to indicate 

 that the supposed origin of the plant was a gardens' tradition, 

 which was not supported by any documentary evidence. 

 The plant is not mentioned by Trimen in the Flora of Ceylon, 

 nor in his Hortus Zeylanicus. 



Specimens of the form which occurs as a weed have been 

 identified at Kew. The plant was introduced via the United 

 States Department of Agriculture in 1896 as a fodder plant, 

 and in 1897 was said to have grown fairly weU in all the 

 Gardens. But it was not taken up by the public generally, 

 and there is no specimen in the herbarium to show what form 

 was then introduced. 



In the Ceylon weed the flowers in bud are green with purple 

 wings and become purple on expansion. About mid-day 

 they " explode," and the exploded flower becomes pale 

 blue.— T.P. 



Weeds. — Apium Ammi (Jacq.) Urb. occurred as a weed on 

 waste ground at Haputale in November, 1917. Cordia 

 Aubletii A. DC. is now a weed round the hotel at Anuradha- 

 pura ; it was introduced into Ceylon from British Guiana in 



