330 NOTES. 



" Alavanga pillu " has been identified at Kew as Erigeron 

 sumatrensis Retz. It no doubt obtains its local name from 

 its erect, simple stem. The first specimen placed in the 

 Peradeniya Herbarium Was collected in November, 1898. 



The weed which has achieved notoriety as the Kurunegala 

 Daisy is Tridax procumbens L. 



Specimens of Tabaemsemontana coronaria Br. have been 

 received from the Southern Province under the name Wata 

 Suda. This confirms the Sinhalese name given for this species 

 by Moon. 



The common paddy field weed, Fimbristylis miliacea Vahl, 

 has been sent in from the Southern Province as Kudu Matta. 

 This name had not been recorded previously. The Sinhalese 

 name which has previously been known for this plant is 

 Mudu-halpan. 



Acanthospermum humile DC. was first recorded for Ceylon 

 from the Colombo District in 1916. Mr. F. Lewis has recently 

 (August, 1921), collected it in the Puttalam District, where it 

 is known as Katu-nerenchi, from its resemblance to Tribulus 

 terrestris. — T.P. 



The Water Hyacinth {Eichliornia crassipes). — The native 

 names which have been given to this plant in Ceylon are of 

 interest from several view points. 



In the Tangalla District it was known in 1914 as Japan 

 Yabara, apparently under the impression that it came from 

 Japan. That was not very wide of the mark, the plant havmg 

 been introduced from Hong Kong. Yabara is possibly the 

 same as Yapura, recorded by Clough (p. 379) as a medicinal 

 plant not identified. Hermann (Mus. Zeyl., p. 24), recorded 

 Sahara for a plant which Lumaeus identified as Monochoria 

 hastsefolia, Diya-habarala, and Yapara appears in a list of 

 Ceylon medicinal seeds sent to Leyden in 1785. It would 

 appear that Yabara, Yapura, Sahara are variants of the 

 Habara in Diya-habarala. 



In the Kadugannawa District the Water Hyacinth Was 

 known in 1916 as Diya-kehel, i.e., the water plantam. The 

 name may have been suggested by the inflated leaf bases. 



