An Orchid new to Cevlon. 



{^rundina bambtisifolia Lindl.) 



BY 



T. FETCH, B.A., B.Se. 



TN November, 1912, ]\Ir. E. E. Green brought in from the 

 -L Hewaheta district a ground orchid which had been 

 found growing on patana land there. On examination this 

 proved to be Arundina hambusifolia Lindl., a species which 

 did not come midor the observation of either Thwaites or 

 Trimen as a Ceylon plant. It has been introduced into the 

 Botanic Gardens, Peradenij-a, from India or Malaya, on several 

 occasions, but has not flourished. There does not appear to 

 be any reason to doubt that in the locality stated it is truly 

 native to Ceylon. 



Subsequent investigation of the literature relating to this 

 sjDecies revealed a somewhat interesting state of affairs. The 

 plant -^vas included by Wight in his " Iconcs Plantarum 

 Indise Orientalis " (1840-56), and was there stated to be a 

 native of Ceylon and Malabar. Wight gave a figure which he 

 said was taken from a Ceylon specimen, but, according to 

 Hooker (Flora of British India, Vol. V., p. 857), that identical 

 specimen is now in the Kew Herbarium and is marked as from 

 Assam, collected by Griffith. Consequently, it has been 

 deduced that Wight made a mistake in citing Ceylon as a 

 locality for this species. Moreover, according to Hooker, there 

 is no evidence of its being even a Malabar plant. The present 

 discovery re -instates it as a Ceylon species, and raises the 

 question whether Wight's error lies in his citation of Cej^lon 

 or in the labelling of the herbarium sheet. 



The Ceylon specimens are up to 130 cm. in height, with 

 stems up to 1 cm. in diameter. The blade of the leaf attains 

 a length of 28 cm., and a breadth of 2*3 cm. The rachis of 



Annals of the Rayal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol.. v., Part VI., November, 1913. 

 6(8)13 (5^) 



