Michelia.l Magiioliacecs. 1 5 



flattened on one side, outer coat thick, pulpy, bright scarlet 

 outside, inner coat thin, hard, black, shallowly grooved. 



Var. /3. ovalifolin^ Thw. M. ovalifolia^ Wight, III. i. 13. 

 Var. Walkeri, Thw. (in part). Var. Wightii, Hk. i. and Th., Fl. B. 

 Ind. i. 44. C. P. 141 (chiefly), 2636. 



Leaves larger, 3|-4| in. long, broadly oval, abruptly or 

 gradually acuminate, not glaucous beneath ; perianth-leaves 

 usually 9. 



Montane zone, in forests above 5000 ft. common ; and down to 4000 ft. 

 more rarely. Var. /S. Adam's Peak District ; Horton Plains. Fl. March, 

 April; pale sulphur- yellow, sweet-scented, becoming darker when 

 withering. 



Also in Nilgiri Mts., S. India. 



The above description of our type is taken from the common form in the 

 hills ; it does not quite agree with that of any of the three species given for 

 Ceylon by Wight, but is nearest to his M. Walkerii. The Nilgiri tree 

 seems to differ considerably ; Zenker's figure shows white flowers with 8 

 perianth-leaves, and Wight, Ic. t. 398, has much larger flowers than any of 

 our forms. 



Var. /3. looks distinct enough, but is connected with the type by inter- 

 mediate forms. C. P. 2636 might be distinguished as another variety ; it 

 has longer tapering leaves almost caudate at the apex and larger flowers 

 with 9 or 12 per.-leaves ; it seems near M. piilneyensis^ Wight, 111. t. 5, 

 but was called var. Walkeri by Thwaites. 



There are specimens of var. /3. from Moon (in Mus. Brit.) collected 

 between Palabadulla and Gilimale below Adam's Peak, quite out of the 

 montane zone. These may probably represent the Liriodendriim Hliifera 

 of Moon Cat. 43 from ' Saffragam,' for which he gives the native name, 

 ' Halu-hulla.' But Linnaeus' L. liliifera was based on a figure of Rumph 

 (Herb. Amb. ii. t. 69) which appears to represent a species of Talau?na, a 

 genus not met with in Ceylon. 



One of the best of the mountain timbers. Wood pale-brown, often 

 somewhat greenish, fine-grained, strong and very durable. One sort is 

 often called by carpenters ' Wal-buruta,' and distinguished from the 

 ordinary ' Wal-sapu ' by darker colour and greater weight. The * Buruta ' 

 wood used for sleepers on the Nanu-oya Railway (see Vincent's Forest 

 Report, par. 452 and note) was this, and not satin-wood. 



M. Champaca, L. (C. P. 1023) is the well-known ' Sapu,' 'Hapu'or 

 * Champak ' tree, much cultivated in Ceylon, but nowhere native. It is 

 considered wild in many parts of India and in Java, and is doubtless a 

 very ancient introduction here. There are specimens in Hermann's 

 Herbarium, and it is recorded in his Mus. Zeylan. p. 64 as ' Hapughaha.' 

 The very fragrant yellow flowers are produced in May, and much used 

 for temple offerings. They are quickly followed by the fruit, which con- 

 tains several somewhat angular seeds extremely like fragments of pink 

 coral. The tree is well figured in Pierre's magnificent ' Flore Forestiere ' 

 of Cochin China, t. 3. 



