NOTES. 329 



1888, and was probably transferred from Poradoniya with 

 other plants to the old Experimental Garden at Anuradliapura, 

 which is now the hotel grounds. Plantago pumila Willd. 

 appeared in abundance in beds of Cummin grown from 

 imported Indian seed on the Experiment Station, Gangaruwa, 

 in 1917. Senebiera didyma Pers. was common as a roadside 

 weed along the Ramboda road, Nuwara Eliya, in September, 

 1918, particularly round stone heaps ; there is a specimen in 

 the Peradeniya Herbarium from the Herbaceous Garden, 

 Peradeniya, 1894.— T.P. 



Ceylon Syrup of Squills. — In Grimm's Laboratorium Ceyloni- 

 cum, that author included Scilla among the Ceylon medicinal 

 lilants, and stated " Componuntur ex ea Acetum and Oximel 

 Scilliticum." The probable explanation of this reference is 

 to be found in Thunberg's Travels, Vol. 4, p. 150 (English 

 edition), where the latter author, iti writing of Samarang, 

 states : " The Crinum latifolium, which may be used instead 

 of the Scilla or Squills, grows here, near Batavia, and in other 

 parts."— T.P. 



Vernacular Names for Plants. — Mr. C. Drieberg informs me 

 that the Shoe -flower {Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L.) is known as 

 Wada in the Southern Province (Matara District). That 

 name was recorded, in the form Waddaghas, by Hermann 

 (Musseum Zeylanicum, pp. 29, 61). The name by which it is 

 usually known is Sapathu mal, which is evidently derived 

 from the Portuguese Fulo de Sapatta, also recorded by 

 Hermann, who stated that it obtained that name from the 

 fact that the juice of the flowers was used for blacking shoes 

 {quod succo fiorum coria tinguntur.) 



Mr. Drieberg also found that at Tissa the Lettuce Tree 

 {Pisonia alba) was known as Ketta, and points out that the 

 latter name is, perhaps, a corruption of the Tamil Lechchai 

 Kedda. 



Tephrosia Hookeriana W. & A. has been sent in from the 

 Galle District under the name of Ela-pila. Pila is a generic 

 name for Tephrosia, but the name Ela-pila was not recorded 

 by Moon, Thwaites, or Trimen. 



6(5)22 <*'*) 



