66 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1885. 



the CEaumeratio'' — I have qaoted the name of the col- 

 lector given by the author recoi-ding the species as 

 Oeylonese, thus (" Walker "). Most of them, it will be 

 seen, were collected by Col. or Mrs. Walker (in 1S30-40), 

 and many, it seems, have not been again found. 



" 0. r." refers to the distributed sets of dried speci- 

 mens of Ctyhn Plants. The numbers given here are 

 the whole of those subsequent to the ones quoted in the 

 " Biiumeratio," which terminated with 0. P. 3SG0. A few 

 of the earlier numbers however are occasionally quoted 

 in this Catalogue; when necessary to secure precision in 

 nomenclature. 



JVew SjKcies. — There are a few MS. names here printed 

 for the first time. It is ray intention to publish de- 

 scriptions of these supposed new species in the " Journal 

 of Botany " (London) without delay. 



Vernacutar Names. — The letters "S." and " T." after 

 these signify Sinhalese and Tamil repectively. With re- 

 gard to the former, it is believed that a fair amount of 

 accuracy has been attained, and that the spelling is in 

 accordance with the rules for transliteration prescribed 

 by the Ceylon Government. In the case of the Tamil 

 names, however, it is to be feared that but a small 

 number of those in use iu tlie North and East of the 

 Colony have been obtained, and that these are not always 

 rightly determiued or properly transliterated. But it 

 may be hoped that the publication of this list will serve 

 as a basis for a more systematic and accurate collection. 



English names have been added to the few plants which 

 have acquired them. H. T. 



Teradeniya, February, 1885. 



We may add to this an extract from ,the Journal 

 of Botany for May 1S8.5, which contains among 

 other contents, the followiog paper : — 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF OEYLON. 



BY HENRY TUIMEN, M.B., F.L.S. 



The last Part of the late Dr. Thwaites' ' Enumeratio 

 Plant. Zeylaniw ' was published in 1864, and, besides com- 

 pleting the systematic enumeration of the plants of Ceylon 

 to the end of the Vascular Cryptogams, contained two ap- 

 pendices (extending to 4:j pages) of Addenda and Oor- 

 rigenda,thus bringing the earlier portions of the book(wliich 

 began to appear in 1858) up to the date of its conclusion. 



The numbered .series of e.r.ii.ciita, well known as " 0. P.," 

 had been previou.sly made up and widely distributed by 

 Thwaites; their numbers are systematically quoted through- 

 out the book, and are. in the supplements above mentioned, 

 carried on up to 0. P. iiSGO inclusive. 



After the completion of the 'Enumeratio' the 0. P. 

 numeration was still kept on, as new species or varieties 

 were detected in the Island, or as further research showed 

 the necessity of breaking up some of the previously re- 

 corded ones into two. In this way 164 additional 0. P. num- 

 bers were given, and the series was extended from O.P. 

 3861 to 4024, which number is absolutely the last. 



Many of these addition.! I numbers have been sent out 

 from Peradeniya to the public herbaria of Europe and Asia 

 and to private collections, and not a few have been quoted 

 by authors of recent monographs and descriptive treatises. 

 It will therefore, I believe, be of use to give a list of them 

 with their determinations, as represented in the Peradeniya 

 herbarium, which in any case of doubt must be considered 

 as the type series. 



I may note that very nearly all these additional numbers 

 refer to plants collected between 1864 and 1809. After this 

 latter year Dr. Thwaites turned his attention, so far as 

 Botany is concerned, almost exclusively to the Lower 

 Cryptogams, and although bis collectors brought in a few 

 additional Flowering Plants, only two or three C. P. num- 

 bers refer to any ye.ar after 181 9. 



In the following determinations I have been often assisted 

 by the staff of the herbariums at Kew and at the Natural 

 History (British) Museum and have especially to thank Mr. 

 Hemsley of the formi-r establishment, and Mr. H. N.Iiidley 

 of the latter, for their prompt attention to my enquiries. 



[Then follows Botanical list. — En.] 



In addition to the plants in the above list, a consider- 

 able number of species has been recorded from Ceylon in 

 various systematic treatises (and especially in the ' Flora 

 of British India,' now in course of publication), wliich were 



not included iu the ' Enumeratio.' Of these most were 

 collected by Col. and Mrs. Walker, in the years 18.30-1840, 

 entirely in the south-western and southern parts of the 

 Island, and have not been met with by subsequent collect- 

 ors. Some of their gatherings were garden plants how- 

 ever. Another collector was MacRae, who had charge of 

 Peradeniya Gardens from 1827 to 1830 ; many of the plants 

 sent home by him as natives of Ceylon were evidently 

 gathered in the gardens, and are nowhere wild in the colony ; 

 whilst others are from N. AV. India, where he also collected 

 for the Horticultural Society. Some of Gardner's plants, 

 collected by him iu company with Wight in the Nilgiris iu 

 1845, have also been erroneously given for Ceylon ; and 

 altogether there is a rather large number of names to be 

 deleted in the list of recorded Ceylonese plants. A cor- 

 rected and revised catalogue of the whole florals now being 

 printed at Colombo for the Asiatic Society's (Ceylou 

 Branch) * Proceedings,' in which I have taken care to dis- 

 tinguish all doubtful natives and erroneous records. 



During the five years I have been in Ceylon, a good many 

 species (chiefly Indian) have been detected, especially in the 

 less-known portions of the Island, which have not, so far as 

 I know, been previously recorded. The greater part of 

 these have been met with in my own excursions through 

 the country, but many have been detected by my friend Mr. 

 W. Ferguson, F.i-.s., of Colombo, an excellent field botanist, 

 who during the long residence of 45 years in the Colony has 

 lost no opportunity of acquiring and adding to his extens- 

 ive acquaintance with its vegetation. Mr. H. Nevill, of 

 the Ceylon Oivil Service, has also availed himself of his 

 residence and travels in unfrequented districts to collect rare 

 plants, and has thus added several species to our flora. 



The following is a list with notes of these additions. The 

 few new or undescribed species it contains, as well as those 

 mentioned under Ms. names in the above list, and a few 

 others, will be described at the end of this paper. 



[The list referred to must be very interesting to 

 Botanists, and we see it is "to be continued" — Ed.] 



DIiMBULA PL.4NTERS' AS.SOCIATION : 

 TEA SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT. 



It is with Some diflideuce that the Sub-Committee 

 have undertaken to draw out this report, feeling, as 

 they do, that they have not sufBcieut experience of 

 the subject. Owing to the courtesy however of some 

 of the most Experienced tea planters in the country, 

 amongst whom .are Messrs. A. E. Seovell, W. 

 Forsythe, T. Gray, C. IC. Welldon and C. S. Armstrong, 

 who have kindly given their opinions on questions 

 submitteed to them, the Sub-Committee venture to 

 issue their report to the district, contident that the 

 information contained in it, will be useful and as 

 reliable as can be at present obtained. 



The first part of the report has been compiled 

 from the answers given by residents in the district 

 to questions A, treating chiefly of seed, nurseries 

 and planting, branches of the snlject in which mem. 

 bers of tlie Association have had some experience. 

 The second part has been drawn up from the answers 

 given by the experienced tea planters outside the 

 district to questions B. 



Part 1. — Nurseries. 



In answer to question 1 the majority are decidedly 

 In favour of a high-class Assam hybrid, as most 

 suitable to the district, while some are in favour of 

 local seed when a good iat is obtainable, othei-s 

 Indian. The pl.an of packing recommended by most 

 is in charcoal (though some have found burnt clay 

 or earth answer) with layers of paper between each 

 layer of seed. 



JJr)/ .land in lead-lined cases has .also done well. 

 With regard to gfruiinating the seed before sowing 

 it, 9 are against doing so and 5 in favour of germ- 

 inatiug by different methods. By most 4 feet wide 

 beds are recommended, dug from S' to 12" deep, 

 the seed l)eing sown S" apart and 1 V' to 2' below 



