242 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF CEYLON. 



Phyllanthus (Reidia) Uakgalensis Tliw. ms. (Epistylis). 

 — Leaves small, crowded, oblong-linear, very shortly stalked, 

 tapering at base, acute at apex, not oblique, copiously dotted ; 

 midrib prominent beneath ; stipules subfalcate, very acute, per- 

 sistent ; flowers few, mostly in the upper axils ; peduncles filiform, 

 nearly as long as leaves ; male perianth with 4 broadly oval, 

 rounded, very obtuse, glabrous, entire segments ; female perianth 

 with 6 similar segments twice the size of the male ; capsule quite 

 smooth. 



Hab. None given with the specimens, but presumably Uak- 

 gala Hill, Central Prov. (C. P. 4015 in Herb. Perad.). A small 

 shrub with many slender twiggy branches. Leaves less than ^ in. 

 long. Male perianth ^ in., female ^ in. in length. 



Differs from its nearest Ceylon allies, P. affinis, P. cinereus, &c., 

 in its very broad entire perianth-segments, glabrous capsule, and 

 narrow leaves, which are not at all oblique. I have not seen it in 

 a living state, and the herbarium material is but scanty. 



Ficus Trimeni King ms. — Urosti(jma Tjiela Thw. Enum. 

 p. 2G5, in part (nou Miq.). — "A gigantic tree with few aerial roots, 

 all parts glabrous ; leaves coriaceous, oval or elliptic, with a short 

 blunt apiculus, entire edges, and a slightly tapering obscurely 

 3-nerved base, 3 to 4-5 in. long; midrib thick and prominent; 

 lateral nerves diverging from the midrib at a low angle, slightly 

 prominent when dry, numerous, close, straight, anastomosing just 

 within the thickened slightly revolute margin; petioles about -75 in. 

 long; stipules ovate-acuminate, •4--6 in. long. Pi.eceptacles sessile 

 in pairs, axillary, globular, slightly verrucose when ripe, •4--5 in. 

 across, with three small spreading ovate-cordate slightly pubescent 

 basal bracts." 



Hab. Not uncommon in the Central Province, especially in the 

 lower hills, at an elevation of 1000-2000 ft., as Peradeniya, 

 Kaduganawa, &c. (C. P. 2220 in Herb. Perad.). 



" This species approaches F. Tsiela Roxb., and F. retusa L., 

 var. nitida, but differs from both by its more numerous straight 

 primary nerves, much more spreading habit, and fewer aerial 

 roots" (King ms.). It is not confined to Ceylon, having been 

 collected in the Indian Penmsula by Law — in Cauara, Dhurwar, 

 and Bellary Districts. 



I am much indebted to Dr. King, of the Calcutta Botanic 

 Gardens, for sending me the above description, which will appear 

 in his forthcoming monograph of the Indian Ficus. I had 

 determined the tree as F. indica L. Syst., and it is given under that 

 name in my "Hand-Guide" to the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens of 

 1888 (p. 23). A gigantic tree here is a well-known and prominent 

 object, and is referred to by Thwaites in a note under U. Tjiela in 

 his ' Enum.,' p. 265.* This tree commenced life parasitically on a 

 Jack-tree, which it strangled and superseded ; it is now a mag- 

 nificent specimen, with symmetrically spreading misupported 



* A photograph of the trunk of this tree was taken in 1879, and there is, if I 

 remember riglitly, a copy of it in the Timber Museum at Kew Gardens. It is of 

 further interest as containing a portrait of the late Dr. Tliwaites seated beneath 

 the branches of the tree. 



