NOTES ON THE FLOEA OF CEYLON. 267 



round the flowers within ; sepals ovate, acuminate, transparent, 

 villous with delicate cottony hair ; petals ovate-spathulate, obtuse, 

 the broad claws coherent, the blades spreading, pale bright violet- 

 blue ; stamens equal, very much exserted, erect ; upper half of 

 filaments covered with long moniliform spreading blue hairs ; apex 

 dilated into a flask-shaped bulb with an attenuated point bearing 

 the minute anther ; ovary truncate, covered with erect silky hair ; 

 style precisely like the filaments of the stamens, and similarly 

 terminated by a pointed bulb ; seeds dark brown, the testa covered 

 with very numerous minute prominences. 



Hab. On hot exposed rocks at Doluwe Kande, Kurunegala, 

 and other low hills. A rather striking plant, not devoid of beauty; 

 the leaves of the barren shoots are 9-10 in. long by 1:^ in. wide, 

 the flowering- branches trail to a great distance, and are usually 

 entirely coloured an intense deep red-purple. 



I had at first referred this to the widely- spread eastern species 

 C. barhata Don, but afterwards named it C. ohtusa, sp. nov. I am. 

 however, informed by Mr. Hemsley that it agrees with C. arach- 

 noidea Clarke, under which I here place it. I have no authentic 

 specimen of that species, which Mr. Clarke (Mon. Phan. in. 250) 

 gives as a native of the Ceylon mountains as well as of Peninsular 

 India. He also quotes for it Wight's figure of C. pilosa (Ic. t. 2083), 

 which is very unlike my plant.* I have, however, kept it as a 

 variety under C. araclmoiclea ; though from the type of this it differs 

 considerably in its much larger size and much less wool, and in the 

 filaments, like the style, being thickened at their summit into a 

 bulk. The forms of this group are most difficult to limit satis- 

 factorily. 



Phoenix zeylanica Trim. — FAate sylvestris Linn, (pro maxima 

 parte). Plueidx sylvestris Thw. (non Eoxb.). — Stem erect, simple, 

 rarely branched at the base, stout, reaching a height when full 

 grown of 12, 14, or even more feet, but as usually seen much shorter, 

 covered with the bases of the fallen leaves ; leaves rather short, 

 the pinnte very numerous, not fasciculate, but nearly equally 

 distant on the rachis, the lower ones reduced to strong sharp spines 

 3-3^ in. long, the rest lanceolate-linear, the largest 7-10 in. long, 

 conduplicate, very sharp-pointed, smooth, bright and shining, deep 

 green, thick, rigid, distinctly 4-ranked, the ranks spreading nearly 

 at right-angles, those pointing downwards set on obliquely with a 

 twist at the base ; spathes sparingly covered with shaggy orange- 

 coloured down. Female floAvers : — Calyx somewhat truncate, half 

 the length of the petals, strongly 3-toothed, not ribbed; petals 

 rotundate, each with 2 staminal rudiments at the base; fruit ^-f in. 

 long, ovoid-oblong, apiculate, deep inky-purple when ripe, scarlet 

 when half-ripe. 



Hab. This is the common wild Date Palm or " Indi " of the 

 south and west parts of Ceylon (C. P. 3172), and has long been 



* I sent living plants of this to Kew in Sept. 1883; these have flowered there, 

 and I am now informed that Prof. Oliver considers that ihcy may bo a form of 

 G. arachnoidea Clarke, but do not correspond precisely witli anything in the Kew 

 Herbarium. 



