276 WILLIS : THE FLORA OF H1T1GALA : 



iii very shady places and rich soil. Mosses abound all the way 

 up. but I could not find any in fruit. Splendid large butter- 

 Hie- abound on the way up, and at the summit I noticed 

 others, which may be forms only found in the moist region ; 

 1 regret that having no net I could not capture any of them. 

 IVocris laevigata is common on rocks at 1,800 feet and 

 Munronia pumila was abundant in flower. Acalypha lanceolata 

 and orchids began to be numerous at about 2,000 feet. 

 Carex leucantha is not uncommon in the grass near the top 

 Piper sp. is abundant. 



At the steps about 100 feet below the summit, one climbs 

 a steep fairly open rock face, which in the shadier parts is 

 covered with Dendrobiums and other orchids, and has fine 

 cactus-like Euphorbias, a Heptapleurum, and other trees upon 

 or overhanging it. Here, or near here, I found Cyanotis 

 fasciculata, Exacum zeylanicum var. Ritigalense, Leucas 

 biflora, Desmodium Wightii, Coleus elongatus, Hoya ovali- 

 folia, Pouzolzia Walkeriana, Gynura lycopersicifolia, and 

 other things. Above this the path runs gently southwards 

 up to the summit, along the nearly fiat narrow ridge, which 

 is perhaps one-third of a mile long and all above 2,400 feet. 

 There is an old bungalow site near the top on the easl side 

 with a few orange trees round it, but I could see nothing else 

 that looked as if it might have been introduced at (he period 

 when bhifl station was a sanitarium for the North-Central 

 Province. 



At the summit one might quite well be "up-country," it 

 being covered with gnarled stunted trees, not over about 

 L6 feet high, with small xerophytie leaves, and heavily draped 

 in hanging mosses and lichens, while (heir branches were 

 covered with orchids. Such a wealth of these plants I have 

 never seen elsewhere. The trees are more blown from the 



nth- west (ban from the north-east, and the slope on the 

 we-tern side seems to be drier than that on the eastern, but I 

 did not go far down, as it is very precipitous, and it is difficult 

 tn ^e( through the (rues. The commonest tree is Kugenia 



