10 WRIGHT : THE GENUS DTOSPYROS 



interesting suggestions, and convinces one that there is no 

 finality in pointing out the morphological resemblances 

 between widely separated families. There is no > difficulty 

 in tracing a particular character of a floral or vegetative 

 member through numerous non-related natural orders ; in 

 some orders the character is presented in a suppressed or 

 enhanced form, and to deduce affinity therefrom inevitably 

 leads to a confused notion as to the true significance of the 

 feature dealt with. 



The subject, as dealt with by Hallier, is very complicated, 

 and in the end one gains very little precise information as to 

 the phylogeny of any group of Angiosperms with which he 

 has dealt. 



Local History. In connection with the history of our 

 knowledge of Ceylon species, twenty in number, there are 

 several interesting facts to record. 



Though some of the species of Diospyros occurring in 

 Ceylon are to be found in Malaya, Burma, Tropical Australia, 

 Peninsular India, Anamalai hills, Tinnevelly, and South 

 India generally, there are several endemic forms. 



D. Ebenum, Koenig* was the first species found in Ceylon, 

 in 1776, but it has since been discovered in many parts 

 of Southern India and in Malaya. It is the chief source of 

 ebony in Ceylon, and the high commercial value of the timber 

 was probably the reason of its being the first species to be 

 recognized. It was not until five years later that the next 

 species was discovered, D. hirsute, L.,t an endemic form very 

 common in the wet low-country. 



In 1795 RoxburghJ discovered on the Coromandel Coast 



' three species which were subsequently found wild in this 



Island, viz., D. Melanoxylon, Roxb., the source of most 



of the Indian ebony, but nearly extinct in Ceylon ; D. 



montana, Roxb., a species abundant in the low forests of the 



* Koenig, in Phys. Salsk. Handl.. Vol. I., p. 176, 1776. 

 t Linnaeus, Suppl. Plant., p. 440, 1871. 



J Dr. Roxburgh. Coromandel Plants, Vol. I,, pp. 36, 37, 38, t. 46, 48, 47, 

 1795. 



