208 NOTES ON THE FLORA OF CEYLON. 



which much resembles it in foliage. The large bracts beneath the 

 calyx are similar to those of the South Indian E. J^occosa Bedd., 

 near which the present species will stand. I have named it in 

 remembrance of my friend Prof. Ernst Haeckel, of Jena, who spent 

 six weeks in researches in marine zoology at the i)icturesque sea- 

 side fishing- village where I collected it. 



Sonerila Guneratnei Trim. — Perfectly glabrous ; stems 

 numerous, erect, 12-15 in. high, slender, subquadrangular or 

 nearly cylindrical, fiexuose, smooth and shining, bare below, 

 irregularly branched above, branches long ascending or droopmg ; 

 leaves apparently whorled, 4 at each node, but in reality in two 

 closely inserted decussate pairs, subsessile, strap-shaped, tapering 

 below, obtuse at apex, entire below, but with 3 or 4 sharp teeth on 

 either side in upper third, thick, with a strong midrib, deepened 

 above, very prominent beneath ; flowers few, in short terminal 

 unilateral racemes (often reduced to solitary flowers) ; pedicels 

 short, straight, deflexed in bud ; calyx-tube 6-ribbed, the upper 

 one-third or more free ; teeth fleshy, deciduous ; petals spreading 

 horizontally ; stamens as long as petals, all bent upward ; anthers 

 long, tapering to slightly curved elongated points ; style curved 

 like the anthers ; roof of ovary formed of three erect fleshy processes 

 together forming a conical surrounding the base of the style ; 

 capsule erect and little longer the stalk into which it tapers, 

 cylindrical, truncate, enclosed in strongly 6-ribbed calyx-tube ; 

 seeds numerous, muriculate, orange-brown. 



Hab. Near Hewessee, Pasdun Korle, first collected in August, 

 1868. (C. P. 4012 in Hb. Perad.). 



A small straggling semi-shrubby perennial, the stems vinous- 

 red, slightly thickened at the nodes. Leaves ^-f in. long by ^ in. 

 broad, the basal portion erect, then bent and spreading. Flowers 

 coming in bloom singly in each raceme ; petals f in. long, bright 

 deep pink, with a mauve tinge ; anthers bright sulphur-yellow. 



The very narrow leaves, in fours, give this a very diflerent aspect 

 from all its Ceylon congeners, and appear to distinguish it from all 

 other species. S. linearis Hk. f., from Moulmein, has apparently 

 even narrower leaves, and is evidently nearly allied. The specific 

 name commemorates its discoverer, Don Leman de Silva Guneratue, 

 Mohandiram, the native plant-collector to the Botanical Gardens, 

 Peradeniya, which post he has held for many years, and under 

 successive Superintendents and Directors. He was the constant 

 cumpanion of my predecessors Gardner and Thwaites (as of myself) 

 in their excursions, and the former died in his arms in 1849. He 

 possesses a wide knowledge of the Singhalese Flora, and it is 

 perhaps not too much to say that nearly the whole of the species 

 described by the two botanists mentioned passed through his hands 

 as collector ; Dr. Thwaites acknowledges his intelligent co-operation 

 in the preface to tlie ' Enumeratio.' 



Hedyotis rhinophylla Thw. ms. — Glabrous, the young shoots 

 finely grey-puberulous ; branches subcylindrical ; leaves scarcely 

 stalked, but much tapering to tbe base and apex, narrowly lanceo- 

 late-caudate, pale green, whitish beneath; midrib very promhient 



