304 THE JOURNAL OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



successive Superintendent, — and six died between 1825 and 1849 — 

 all papers were removed to the Kachcheri in the neighbouring town 

 of Kandy; and three removals being as bad as a fire, they probably 

 suffered some loss in consequence. 



The approximate dates of introduction of the earlier species 

 were worked out by Trimen, and included by him in his Hortus 

 Zeylanicus (1888). These were deduced chiefly from the records and 

 specimens of botanists who visited Ceylon before the establishment 

 of a Botanic Garden. For example, if Trimen stated that a given 

 species was introduced before 1678, that means that the species was 

 recorded or collected by Hermann. Similarly, the date 1824 signi- 

 fies that the plant in question was enumerated by Moon in his 

 Catalogue of Ceylon Plants. Moon's records, however, are to be 

 accepted with reserve, as in very few cases are there any specimens 

 in support of them. 



The first record of Lantana for Ceylon was made by Moon, who 

 recorded Lantana trifolia, as an introduced plant, in his Catalogue 

 published in 1824. As it is included in the Additions, not in the 

 main body of the Catalogue, it was probably introduced while the 

 book was in the press. Moon cites Bot. Mag. t. 1449, hence it is 

 assumed that his identification was correct. But Moon's plant, 

 Lantana trifolia, is a common weed only at high elevations ; it is 

 not the common Lantana of the low country. 



Colonel and Mrs. Walker who enumerated the plants met with 

 between Ratnapura and Adam's Peak in the Colombo Journal, 1833, 

 did not mention Lantana. Again, Mrs. Walker, in describing a tour 

 in the low-country in Hooker's Journal of Botany, II (1840), pp. 223- 

 256, made no reference to it. Champion (Hooker's Journal of Bot- 

 any, III (1841), pp. 282-292) recorded that Lantana aculeata occurred 

 round Colombo in 1839 ; and in 1843, he enumerated Lantana sp. 

 among the predominating shrubs and plants from sea level to 2,000- 

 3,000 ft. As the native Lantana indica is very rare in Ceylon, the 

 latter record is not likely to refer to that. Finally, Gardner, in "Some 

 general remarks on the Flora of Ceylon ' (1848), referred to " The 

 Lantanas which are to be met with almost everywhere in bushy places 

 and hedges." 



Trimen did not assign a date to the introduction of Lantana 

 aculeata in his Hortus Zeylanicus (1888). In the Flora of Ceylon, III, 

 p. 346, he stated that it was introduced soon after 1824 and added 

 that its introduction was attributed to Sir Hudson Low, who held a 

 military command in Ceylon in 1826. As it had become a weed by 1839, 

 the suggested date is probably correct. 



