BRAZIL NUT TREE IN CEyLON, 425 



may have only a single branch nearly equal to the main axis. 

 On this character, therefore, panicles from the lower branches 

 would be assigned to excelsa, and those from the upper 

 branches to nohilis. It must, however, be stated that the 

 majority of the inflorescences are at the top of the tree, and 

 are therefore of the nohilis type, though their branches are not 

 horizontal. 



There is a difference between the panicles of the Peradeniya 

 tree and those from Henaratgoda. In the former the branches 

 arise from the main axis at distances of about an inch apart, 

 while in the latter they are crowded together, less than half 

 an inch apart, at the base of the inflorescence. The branches 

 are also longer in the latter, quite independently of their lower 

 points of attachment. The flowers are also closer together 

 on the Henaratgoda specimens ; for example, the main axis 

 of a typical inflorescence from Henaratgoda bore eighty-seven 

 flowers on a length of 27 cm., while a corresponding main axis 

 from a well-developed inflorescence from the Peradeniya tree 

 bore only thirty-six flowers on a length of 18 cm. 



Miers' reference to a zigzag rachis is somewhat misleading, 

 but it evidently refers to the profile of the dried rachis, not to 

 its general direction. The rachis of a fresh specimen is straight 

 where it is floriferous, and only very shghtly zigzag between 

 the branches, and it retains the same shape when diied. It is 

 angular in section, with ridges which gradually increase in 

 elevation up to the point of attachment of the flower. These 

 ridges are more prominent on the Peradeniya than on the 

 Henaratgoda specimens. 



On the inflorescences of the Peradeniya tree the successive 

 flowers may be up to 1 cm. apart, but are often opposite. On 

 the Henaratgoda tree the arrangement is the same, but the 

 distance between successive flowers does not exceed 5 mm. 

 On some branches of the Henaratgoda inflorescences, however, 

 the flowers are arranged in pseudo-whorls of three, the points 

 of attachment of the three flowers being almost, but not 

 exactly, at the same level. 



The flower of the Peradeniya tree is white to cream coloured. 

 That of the Henaratgoda is more deeply coloured, being orange 

 yellow at the apex of the androphorum, and having the inner 



