8i6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



specific names in the genus, and I should have abstained 

 from doing so on my own judgment alone. But several 

 supporting facts have been observed, especially by JNIr. 

 Moens in his long and intimate acquaintance with, and 

 close study of, the plant and its allies. His opportunities for 

 arriving at a correct cnnulusion are so much greater than 

 those of any other person, that I feel there is little risk in 

 adopting the view ho holds (which will be more fully ex- 

 hibired in his forthcoming book ou the genus Cinchona), 

 agreeing as it does with my own less well-grounded opinion. 



A point which early struck me as noteworthy was. that 

 amoug the amazing variety iu the progeny of the ordinary 

 Calisaya-iotms nothing quite agreeing with C. Led;/u-iiiiia 

 was ever observed. Desirous to know whether this was the 

 case elsewhere, I made inquiries of Blr. Moeus, who assured 

 me that he never saw " anything like Lcdj/tiinmi, either 

 botamcally or cluinically," to come from seed of a Calisai/a. 

 I understand that Mr. Gammie has the same experience. 

 This is very remarkable, for the progeny that come from any 

 sowing of C. Calisai/a seed are certainly less like one an- 

 other than some are like ('. Leilycriana; moreover, seed 

 from the latter has not hitherto been found to come very 

 true, even the progeny of the original seed from Bolivia 

 showing a good deal of variation. But as seen under cult- 

 ivation this has as yet been always the case with Oinchouas. 

 How far it results from a strong natural tendency to vari- 

 ation, and how much is due to cross-fertilization, we liave at 

 present little direct evidence to show. The latter must, 

 however, be a cause, and alone explains the undoubted im- 

 provement in the true-ness of seed from a tree hitlierto 

 grown in proximity to other species after isolation by their 

 destruction. This has been conspicuously shown in the case 

 of (- . Ledfferiana itself in Sikkim, the seedlings from whicli, 

 since iSIr. Gammie uprooted nearly all the neighbouring 

 trees, now come remarkably true, whereas before that was 

 done the sporting was so great that Dr. King would not 

 propagate by seed at all. The same results have been even 

 more marked in Java. We may hope for some direct evid- 

 ence on the subject, however, in time, as Mr. Moons is now 

 conducting experiments in artificial hybridization with a 

 view to comparison of the results with the naturally-pro- 

 duced sports. 



So much interest attaches to this Viiichnna that, though 

 it has been comparatively recently the subject of three fine 

 plates iu Howard's sumptuous volume, § I have thought that 

 a less ambitious figure, carefully drawn from living speci- 

 mens of the plant cultivated iu Ceylon, might fitly accom- 

 pany this notice. The artist has not been very fortunate in 

 the specimen he had for delineation, which was from a tree 

 grown in poor soil and an imsiutable situation, and flowering 

 at an earlier age than would be the case with a more 

 healthy subject. But there was then little choice as to 

 specimens in Ceylon, where we have but few adult trees 

 of the kind. 



The following description gives those characters only 

 which are helpful to distinguish ('. Lahjeriaua from its 

 allies. They are chiefly taken from fresh Ceylon examples, 

 but I have been assisted by dried specimens of some of the 

 original trees from Java, for which I am indebted to Mr. 

 Moens : — 



Cinchona Li:doebi.\na, Moens, MSS. 



C CaUsaya, Wedd., var. Ledqeriaiui, Howard, Quinol. Ind. 

 Plant., p. 84, tt. -1— C (1876). 



Leaves when adult varying from pure lanceolate^ to oval 

 or to linear-lanceolate, or to oblong-oval, hut alwai/a haciitt/ 

 the hyondest pari at or ahovi the middle and equally narrow- 

 ing towards either end, apex sub-acute (rarely acute) or sub- 

 obtuse, base much attenuate into the short petiole, always 

 perfectly glabrous ou both surfaces, subcoriaceous, often 

 Wiu-y.fidl deep green, paler beneath, shining but uot polished 

 above, the base of the midrib and petiole more or less stained 

 w th orange-pink, the veins prominent beneath, scrobicules 

 not conspicuous mostly coufiued to the upper vein-angles 



^ Quinol. Ind. Plant., tt. 4. 5. (i. 



•^ The sense iu which I have always used the terms " lau- 

 ceoiate" and *' oval" is that given in English text-books, and 

 more precisely defined in this Journal, 1871, p. 370. But 

 several descriptive botanists use the term " lanceolate'' to ex- 

 press a form which I am accustomed to call ovate-lanceolate 

 or narrowly ovate, ?'. <'., with the bro^ulest diameter below the 

 middle; whilst "ov.al" is employed with extreme laxity for 

 several very different outlines. 



stipules enclosing the terminal bud, quickly caducous, lauceo 

 late-oblong, subacute, glabrous, keeled, and with numerous 

 parallel veinlets. 



Flowers small, on short curved pedicels and thus droopiiiff 

 or diearicate, tufted or crowded at the ends of the branches 

 of the usually small rather deuse pyi-amidal panicle ; buds 

 oblong-ovoid, blunt, when mature not at all or veri/ slir/lttli/ 

 widened at the end and never aliruptli/ enlari/ed there. 



Corolla with a short wide tuhe about l-6th inch long, snme- 

 what inflated in the middle, pale green, lobes pvre white or 

 somewhat cream-coloured (very rarely pinkish), the marginal 

 hairs copious and long. 



Capsule short, ovoid-oblong, rarely more than g- inch and 

 never more than h inch in length, capped by the persistent 

 cup-shaped calyx-limb with erect teeth. 



As with other species of Cincliomi in cultivation there 

 is in this a great deal of variability in the form of the leaf, 

 even iu adult trees. Ou the floweriug branches they are 

 often narrow and almost strap-shaped, whilst in some plants 

 they are as broad as C. officinalis, var. Condaminea, from 

 which it is indeed not always easy to distinguish them. The 

 amount of red coloration in the veins is variable, and rarely 

 quite absent. Though always absolutely glabrous when 

 mature, this is by no means the case with young plants ; 

 seedlings up to a year or two old are frequently more or less 

 hairy lieneath, but as the trees get older this disappears. 

 These young leaves are also often of very large size, and the 

 upper surface usually has a velvety sheen or rejet ; not un- 

 frequently the under side is of a fine piu-plish tint ; but none 

 of these points are, I think, of much importance. Tbe 

 unexpanded leaves and the buds and young .soft shoots have, 

 however, a bronzed or olive-orange tint by which in a field of 

 C. Culisaya the plants of C Ledc/eriana may often be picked 

 out at first sight. 'When withering the leaves turn orange- 

 lake to brown. 



The tree does uot apparently attain any great height ; it 

 is distinctly pyramidal in shape, and less handsome in ap- 

 pearance than some other species. The bark is usually 

 rather clean and smooth ; but there seems to be consider- 

 able variability in appearance, and I cannot learn that any 

 guide as to quality is afforded by it. 



The long-styled and short-styled forms seem to be pretty 

 equally distributed in Ceylon specimens, perhaps the short- 

 .styled (with exserted stamens) being rather more frequent. 

 I do not observe any correlated differences in foliage or 

 inflorescence. The trees flower here during the months from 

 May to September. 



The capsules are described by Dr. King as " nearly 

 globular," but I have seen none of that form, all being as 

 above described. Those originally collected were considered 

 by Mr. Howard to be similar to V. <'alisai/a var. viicrocarpa, 

 AVedd. (figured in the Quinology, t. 15). 



The best marks distinguishing C. Ledgeriana from all 

 forms of C. Calisai/a are found in the flowers. Their droop- 

 ing habit, and more especially the small size, short inflated 

 tube, and white colour of their corolla, are quite characteris- 

 tic ; the difference is well seen just before expausion, when 

 in ('. I'alisaya the tube is topped by a suddenly-iuflated 

 knob quite absent in the present species. The flowers 

 certainly thus make an approach to C yticrantlia,H. ^V., 

 but the very different foliage and capsules widely separate 

 the two species. Tlie plant alludeil to by Mr. Howard in 

 this Journaljl under the name of the " Morada," and col- 

 lected by Pedro l\ada on the rivers Bossi and Beni in 

 Eastern Bolivia, is, to judge from the coloured figure given 

 of the young leaves, extremelj^ like ('. Ledt/eriana. The 

 bark, too, is known to be a good sort of ( 'alisat/a bark. 

 The trees, however, are said to reach a height of ISit-l.'iO 

 feet, and the flowers of this "morada" to be "purple"; but 

 a closely-allied form, " la verde," has them '• white." 



For the specimens figured I am indebted to Mr. '^''alter' 

 Agar. They are from Mahanillu Estate, in the Maskeliya 

 district of Ceylon, about 5^ years old from seed, and about 

 f)^ fei't high (being, as above uientioued, grown in unfavour- 

 able circumstances). The seed cante from the late Mr. 

 Maclvor, Superintendent of the Cinchona plantation in the 

 Kilgiris, obtained, there can be no doubt, from trees which 

 originated from Sir. Ledger's seed. 



Peradeniya, Ceylon, September 1st, 1881. 

 II ' Journ. Bot.,' 18C9, p. 1, t. S7. 



