174 NOTES ON THE FLORA OF CEYLON. 



locality is given as "India orientalis and Ceylona" (p. 24). I 

 believe I am right in placing P. far mi/era here, at least as under- 

 stood by the Madras botanists. I saw this wild in Guindy Park, 

 near Madras, but not in fruit. The common yellow-fruited 

 P. sylvestris Eoxb., so much cultivated in India, does not grow in 

 Ceylon. 



Luiienandra inslijnis Trim., n. sp. 



Pandanus Kaiht Kurz. — To this I refer a Pandanus used abun- 

 dantly as a fence plant for paddy-fields at Kanuwana and other 

 places near Colombo. The fruit and foliage agree precisely with 

 the excellent old figures of " Kaida " in Eheede, ' Hort. Malabar,' 

 ii. tt. 2-5, on which Kurz founded his species. •;= I have only seen 

 the female plant, and have never detected any fertilised seed in the 

 fruit, so that it is probable that we have only the one sex here, and 

 that it was originally brought from the Malabar coast. All the 

 species of Pandanus are used as fences for paddy, and are always 

 grown from cuttings or branches ; they go under the name of 

 " wetta (= hedge) Kai/iya." The syncarps of P. Kaida are large, 

 resembling those of P. dabius Kurz, 10 or 11 in. long by 6 in. wide, 

 dark dull green becoming dull orange, ovoid-oblong and very blunt, 

 usually solitary, but occasionally with two or three smaller globular 

 lateral ones below ; the drupes are very distinct, the free portion of 

 each l^-f in. high, rounded and rather flat topped (bluntly nipple- 

 shaped), with very blunt angles. AVlien young the female flowers 

 are quite separate down to the axis, and each is composed of two 

 or three carpels separated by well-marked grooves ; the sessile 

 stigmas are flat, 2-lobed, and slightly reniform. The leaves are 

 broad for the genus, bright green with a glaucous " bloom," and 

 with very strong white spines pointing forward on the margin, and 

 retrorsely hooked on the under surface of the midrib. 



Wolffia arrhiza Wimm. — First detected by Mr. W. Ferguson in 

 a pond near Colombo, October, 1880. Occurs in the warm regions 

 of all parts of the globe. 



Cymodocea anstralis Miq. (sub HaJodidc). — In abundance, growing 

 in the shallow water off the shore at Weligama (Belligam) Bay, on 

 the south coast, in December, 1883, along with C. isoetifolia Asch., 

 and Thalassia Hemprichii Asch. I could not find any plants in 

 flower. G. cillata Ehrenb., and C'. {Pliycayrostis) serrulata Asch. & 

 Magn. are both recorded for Ceylon, but I have not, I believe, 

 gathered either on our coasts.! 



Kfiiicanhm fluriatile Trim., n. sp. 



Jlelcocharis multicaulis Sm. — Specimens in the herbarium with 

 the locality " Kurunegula ? " appear to belong to this species. 



* See Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. ISG'.t, ii., p. 3. In his former paper (Joiirn. 

 Bot. 1867, p. 127) Rheede's figure was referred to P. Candelabrum. Solma 

 (' Linna3a ' xlii. p. 59) restricts P. Kaida to Siam, and excludes Eheede's figures. 



t It may be noted that the three si)ecies of marine phanerogams given at 

 p. 333 of Thwaites' ' Enumeratio ' are incorrectly determined. Cymodocea 

 cequorea (C. P. 2380) is C. isoetifolia Asch. ; Thalassia stipulacea (C. P. 3055) is 

 Hdlopliila ovalis Hk. f. ; Posidonia serrulata (G. P. 3056) is Thalassia Hemprichii 

 Asch. 



