JULV I, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



f,4 



TRIMEN'S C'ATALCGE OP CFA'LOK PLANTS* 



{ComintiniccJe^.) 



If brevity be the soul of wit and the expression 

 be akiu to " multum in parvo," seldom could either 

 be more appropriately quoted than on the present 

 occasion respec'.ing tliis Catalogue of Ceylon Plants. 

 The wellkuown apology of a Frenchman to a cor- 

 respondent for the length of his epistle on the ground 

 that he had no' time to write a shorter, can scarcely 

 be quoted by Dr. Trinien in respect to tlie matter 

 contained in this list of Ceylon plants ; but, on the 

 other hand, it is difficult to calculate what portion 

 of Dr. Trimen's fully occupied time has been devoted 

 to the preparation of tliis catalogue, and the boiling 

 down of the scattered and heterogeneous mass of 

 matter from which he has had to compile it during his 

 short residence amongst us. To be able to do this 

 correctly implies a peculiar training and practical 

 knowledge of botanical literature, but when the careful 

 examination of several thousand specimpns of dried 

 aud liviug plants has to be added to Dr. Trimen's 

 labours, Ihe value of this list can be fully appreciated 

 by brother-botanists interested in the plants growing 

 in Ceylon. But to non-botanists truly the list is 

 Etrougly recommended on the ground that a more 

 full and correct list of the botanical, Sinhalese aad 

 Tamil names of our Ceylon plants has not before 

 been made in accordance with the recognized and 

 proper arrangement of the several famiiiea of plants. 

 Dr. Trimen's list forms a complete index to Thwaites's 

 " Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylania;" ; but in the se- 

 quence of the families or natural orders it d.ll'<;is 

 very materially from Thwaites's work. Dr. Trimen's 

 Viii is reilly a catalogue of the botanical names of 

 the plants of Cejlon generally derived from Latin aud 

 occasionally Greek terms ; and it may be saffly stated 

 that nearly all the English names of plants in this 

 list of some 3,000 to -1,000 individuals can be counted 

 on the lingers of cue's hands. 



To save ladies and others from making wry faces 

 by attempting to commit to memory and pronounce 

 tlie Lalino-Gieek names of plants, would-be popular 

 writers have attempted to give thorn tictitious English 

 names in every case, bul in this respect the ever 

 courteous Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya, always so ready to impart useful and 

 popular information on plants to eytry one visiting 

 the classioil gardens of Peradeniya or applying to him 

 for information, thus disposes of the ijnglish names 

 of Ceylou plants : — " Euyli^h names uave been 

 added to the feiv plants which have acquired 

 them," thus cle.-vrly trampling under foot the ad- 

 mitted fact by all nations, iuoludiny Russia, " that 

 we (English) sre thi people, and that wisdom will 

 die with us ! " But to make up f.jr this fact Dr. 

 Trimeu has given more than his titlep.age indicates, 

 for in addition to the "flowering plants and ferns" 

 he has added five natural orders, viz., Khizocarf c:o, 

 Lycopodiaccas, Isoetcc, Selaginellacta-, and Characcx-, 

 not bargained for. 



The catalogue consists of two pages of an " Ex- 

 planatory Xute " (rt'hichis quoted after this notice) 

 and 137 pages of the list of plants divided as fol- 

 lows :— pp. 1 to 8G include Dicotyledons ; pp. 8G to 

 110 MoxocoTYLEDOxs ; and pp. Ill to 119 Vascular 

 CKvriouAMS ; whilst pp. 121 to lo7 are occupied 

 with the indii-es of the botanical names of the 



» A Systematic Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and 

 Ferns ludigenous to or Growing in Ceylou. With the 

 \'eruacular Isamis, aud with Itefereiicus to Thwaites' 

 Enumeratio. Compiled by Henry Trimeii, M.B., f-l.is., 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, 18S5. 

 



natural orders and genera, and the Sinhaleje and, 

 Tamil names of the plants. 



The catalogue includes 15G natural orders, 1,071 

 genera, and 3,249 regular species, with 408 varieties, 

 some of which may prove to be distinct spacies. 

 The catalogue is issued as a number of the "Journal 

 of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 

 for 1SS5," and has been printed by Mr. George J. A. 

 Skeen, Government Printer, Ceylon, to whom 

 the author and the members of the Asiatic Society 

 owe a debt of gratitude for the neat and careful 

 way in which the book has been issued. It may 

 be safely stated that this catalogue of the plants of 

 Ceylon by Dr. Trimen is the most valuable work 

 ever contributed to the Society in strict accordance 

 with its objects in connection with the several branches 

 of the natural history of Ceyjou formiug its programme. 



The following specimens of the catalogue are given : 

 On page 3G and under Natural Order 54, " Ltturace.e ; 

 genus 309 Lagerstrcemia Flos-regina^ Retz, 122. 

 ]Uuriita, S. KadaUpuva, T.," and on page 55, under 

 Natural Order " 85, Asclepiade.-e and Genus 4S(J, 

 Hemidesmus indicus, Brown. 195. Iramnnu, S. 

 Nannari, T. Indian SarsajMrilhi ," which meaus that 

 these plants ari to be found on pages 122 and 195 

 respectively of Thwaites' Enum. Plant. Zeyl., and th;it 

 the letters S. and T. stand for Sinhalese and 

 Tamil. All the members of the Ceylou Branch (if 

 the Royal Asiatic Society will be eutitleil to a fieo 

 copy of this valuable catalogue, aud there need be 

 no hesitation in recommending it to all ethers inter- 

 ested in the Botany of Ceylon. W. F. 



Of t'le scientific value of the list, there can be 

 no question, but we (li"D.) trust it will be speedily 

 followed by the long-promised, longlooked-for popnlar 

 work on the Botany of Ceylou. — Dr.'lrimen's Explanatory 

 Note is as follows: — 



E.X;i'r..\NATORY NOTE. 



The Xaliiral OnUis aud the Gcncrit iu Ibis Cit.ilogiie 

 are e.tch numbered cousecutively throughout, the sequence 

 followed being that of the " Genera Plaularum " by Bon- 

 tham aud Hooker. The Species are generally named iu 

 accordance with the "Flora of British India," bo far as 

 that work hivs yet beeu published (to end of Geuus 

 594, p. 07). 



Names of species or varieties printed in sstAi.r, capitals 

 are believed to be ende,iiio (i. e., found in Ce.vloii only, or 

 peculiar to the Island). 



Names with an asterisk (*) prefixed are es:otie.speei.,s 

 which have become more or less iudio'nli:efl, usually a.s 

 ifpo/." iu cultivated or waste land. Jlauy are thoroughly 

 established and very common; others merely casual and 

 rarely found. A dagger (t) prefixed to a name iiulie- 

 ates a suspicion of exotic origin or a doubt as to true 

 nativity. 



Names eccln.scd in roiuid brackets ( ) are exotic species 

 which, being largely e/iltimted for u-e or ornament, are 

 often found apparently wild, but are not really uaturalized 

 here. 



A query (?) prefi.'ced to a name iiulicates doubt a.s 

 to the occurrence of the plant in Ceylon ; placed after a 

 a name it means doubt as to the correctness of the 

 tletermination. 



Names enclosed in square brackets [ ] are species wbieh 

 have been recorded for Ccyhui, liut the occurrence of 

 which is a matter of grave doulit or recpdres verilicatiou. 

 Most of them are. in all probability, errors • bnt n.-* they 

 arc given in "hooks of more or less anlhority, it is tliuught 

 well to include them, thus clearly distinguished from the 

 others. 



The additional names (synonyms) in italics are those of 

 Thwaite-'s " Bnnmcratio Plantarum >5eylani:e " (lAIS-fill 

 when ditferent from theories here adopted. Tlie numhers 

 following the names refer to the pages of tlie sanit! 

 book, to which this Catalogue forms- a complete classilicd 

 index. 



Iu the case of a few .ipeeies of which I liavo not seen 

 Ceylou specimens — aud for the most part not iucliuled in 



