NOTES. 539 



from the periphery to the cectre. In one stem, 24 cms. in 

 diameter at 12 ft,, it was found that (neglecting the outer 

 rind) the bundles sloped up to the left in the outer 3-5 cm. 

 There then occurred an abrupt reversal of direction, and for 

 the next 3-5 cm. the bundles sloped up to the right. This 

 was followed by another reversal, and in the remainder of the 

 stem (to the centre) the bundles sloped up to the left again. 

 The central column, therefore, consisted of three regions, and 

 the slope of the bundles was reversed on passing from one 

 layer to the next. This is readily demonstrated if a thin 

 disc, about 1 inch thick, is cut from a coconut stem and 

 broken in two along a diameter. The change of direction is 

 then indicated b}^ the different slopes of the sui-face of the 

 fracture. 



In another tree this condition was reversed ; the same 

 three regions were present, but in the outer the bundles 

 sloped up to the right, in the intermediate to the left, and in 

 the inner to the right again. From an examination of a 

 number of trees it appears that the number of reversals is 

 always the same. 



The scars left by the " bleeding disease " afford a means 

 of ascertaining in which direction the bundles of the outer 

 layer run, without cutting down the tree. These scars arc 

 fairly common on old trees, and they usually run obUquely 

 up the stem, following the course of the outer layer of vascular 

 bundles. In an exammation of fifty-five of such trees taken 

 at random, the scars were found to slope up to the right in 28 

 cases, and up to the left in 27. There are therefore " right- 

 handed " and " left-handed " coconut palms, and from the 

 count of the old disease -scars it may be presumed that they 

 occur practically in equal numbers. — T. P. 



Stereospermum xylocarpum Wight. — This tree, which nor- 

 mally should be covered in the flowering season with masses 

 of white blossom, suffers severely at Peradeniya from the 

 depredations of squirrels and birds, to such an extent that 

 when it first comes into bloom very few of the flowers mature. 

 When in full blossom the ground beneath the tree is strewn 

 with flowers, and on examination it is found that the majority 

 of these are damaged. 



