NOTES ON THE FLORA OF CEYLON. 245 



here, is a very accurate representation of the plant. I have had, 

 therefore, to re-name the species; which I do witli some hesitation, 

 as it seems not improbable that C. dccipiens Lindl. in Bot. Mag. 

 1844, Misc. p. 11, may be the same. This species is from Ceylon; 

 but the description is brief, and in the form and colour of the sepals 

 and petals, and some other points, does not quite agree with that 

 above given. 



Disperis zeylanica Trim. — D. ttipetaloidea Lindl. in part (non 

 Drijopeici tripetaluides Thouars) ; Thw. Enum. p. 311. — Flowers with 

 the lateral sepals connate for their lower half; labellum deeply 

 bifid, with long linear divaricate lobes. 



It is noted by Mr. S. Moore, in Fl. Mauritius, p. 331, that the 

 Ceylon plant is evidently different from the Mascarene D. tri- 

 petaloides, and indeed the above characters abundantly distinguish it. 



This singular little i^lant is found amongst decaying leaves and 

 rocks in the forests of the lower hills, now, however, mostly cleared. 

 It flowers in April and May, which is the period at which the 

 majority of our orchids blossom. I also met with it in the Nilgiris, 

 South India, below Coonoor, in 1883 ; where there is also a second 

 species of this curious chiefly African genus. 



Curcuma oligantha Trim. — Small ; tubers oblong-ovoid or 

 fusiform ; leaves petiolate, the petioles dilated into long sheaths 

 below ; blade oval, acute at both ends, much undulated, glabrous, 

 thin, with distmct veins and transverse veiulets ; flowering-scape 

 appearing with the new leaf-shoot and given off' from the axil of 

 one of its basal scales, short and slender, with two or three blunt 

 brown scales, terminated by the very reduced spike of 4-6 erect 

 acuminate bracts, all of which are floriferous ; flowers very few, 

 large, erect, as long as the spike, white ; corolla-tube 1 in. long, 

 slender, white ; segments long, acuminate-obtuse, pinkish, the 

 posterior rather longer and more acute, petaloid ; staminodes sub- 

 acute, crisped, pure white ; labellum large and broad, rather deeply 

 bifid, white, with lemon-yellow stains in the throat ; anther short ; 

 basal spurs rather long, curved ; seeds without an aril, oblong, 

 grey, shining. 



Hab. Uma-oya, near the Maha-weli Eiver, north-west of 

 Badulla, Cent. Province, Oct. 1884. A small plant for this genus. 

 Tubers 1-1 i in. long. Leaf-blades 5-7 in. long, the texture 

 remarkably thin, of a bright light transparent green. The flowering- 

 scape and young tuft of leaves are on one and the same new axis, 

 which is given off" laterally from the old root-stock. Bracts about 

 1 in. long, pale green. A single flower only is open at once in each 

 spike, and as it stands up much above the bracts the scape appears 

 at first sight to be one-flowered. 



This species is allied to C. alhiflora Thw., figured well in Bot. 

 Mag. t. 5909, and, like that, has no terminal tuft of empty bracts, 

 as in the rest of the genus. The texture of the leaves in C oliijaiit/ui 

 is very unlike that of all other species of Curcuma. 



I have no doubt that the fragmentary specunens (C. P. 3700) 

 from Auaradhapura mentioned by Thwaites (Enum. p. 316j are to 

 be referred to this species. 



(To be conumieil.) 



