64 Plmnbaginacei?. {Plumbago. 



apiculatc deciduous bract more or less silky-hairy on the 

 back ; cal. nearly glabrous, segm. obscure, rounded ; cor. 

 ii-2 in. diam., lobes broad, rounded, 2-lobed, undulate; fil. 

 glabrous ; capsule f in., oblong, often tipped with persistent 

 style, very hard and woody, glabrous, valves ultimately 

 reflexed. 



Open ground in the upper montane zone, z>., above 5000 ft.; common, 

 generally growing gregariously. Fl. April to July; dark crimson. 



Also in the Himalayas and Nilgiris. 



A very conspicuous object in the hill-country, especially when in 

 flower. On the patanas the trees, many of which must be of great age, 

 are usually scattered, contorted, and more or less stunted in growth ; but 

 when growing together, as on Horton Plains, they attain a large size. 

 The flowers are occasionally pale pink. 



An attempt was made by Gardner to distinguish two varieties of 

 this, according to the colour, white or rusty, of the tomentum on the 

 under surface of the leaves. The latter is less commonly found here, and 

 I think, usually at the lower elevations (but little above 5000 ft.) ; but it 

 is the usual, if not the only, form in the Nilgiris, and is probably the 

 plant figured as R. RoHisomi, Lindl., in Bot. Reg. 1843, t. 25. 



This tree was recorded from the summit of Adam's Peak by the 

 Moorish traveller Ibn Batuta in 1343-4, and is thus the earliest recorded 

 wild plant for Ceylon : it still grows there. 



LXXVI.— PLUMBAGINACE^. 



Herbs, 1. alt., without stip., fl. regular, bisexual ; cal. free, 

 tubular, segm. 5 ; cor. persistent, with a long tube, lobes 5, 

 spreading, twisted in bud ; stam. 5, hypogynous, distinct ; ov. 

 superior, i -celled, with a single ovule pendulous from a basal 

 ascending funicle, style simple, stigmas 5 ; fruit a capsule, 

 included in persistent cal. and cor., circularly dehiscent near 

 the base ; seed solitary, embryo in axis of endosperm. 

 A small Order, generally distributed. 



PZiUXVIBAaO,* L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. 10 ; 2 in Fl. B. Ind. 



* The European species {P. ctcropaa) is (or was supposed to be) the 

 Plumbago of Pliny, which was a remedy for a disease of the eyes called 

 plumbum. 



