IN CEYLON. 3 



In 1753 Linnaeus* described five species of the Ebenaceae, 

 two of which belonged to the genus Diospyros. New species 

 and genera were subsequently described by Linnseus,t C. 

 Linnaeus,! and Loureiro, and others were figured and 

 described by Roxburgh)) and Konig in 1795. It was not 

 until 1799 that the natural order Ebenacese was established 

 by Ventenat ;1 subsequently it received considerable atten- 

 tion, many species and genera being quickly added from 

 Mauritius by Poiret,** from Australia by Brown, ft from Java 

 by Blume, from India by Wallich^J and from the Philip- 

 pines by Blanco. 



The Ebenaceas of Ventenat, revised by Jussieu,||[| had by 

 this time greatly enlarged, and the necessity for a further 

 revision was obvious ; accordingly, G-. DonlFIF undertook this 

 work and gave a description of every species known to him. 



This was speedily followed by more collecting, and finally 

 A. de Candplle*** wrote a monograph on the whole of the 

 Ebenaceae. Having formed some definite ideas as to the 

 external morphology of the Ebenaceaa, many botanists of 

 that period turned their attention to the possible affinities 

 of the order, and in 1845 we have the first fossil species 

 described by Braun, and subsequent contributions on fossil 

 species by Unger, Ettingshausen, Zollinger, and others. 



The phylogeny of the order was discussed by Miersftt and 

 Choisy,Jtt the former proposing that the Ebenaceae be 



* Linnasus. Species Plantarum. 1753. 



7 Linnseus, 13th Edition of Systema, 1774. 



% C. Linnfeus in Supp. Spec. Pit., 1781. 



Loureiro, Flora Cochinchinensis, 1790. 



|| Roxburgh, Coromandel Plants, 1795-1819. 



f Ventenat, Tableau du Regne Vegetal, 1799. 



** Poiret, Encyclopedic methodique, 1804. 



ff Brown, Prodomus florae novze Hollandise, 1810. 



%% Wallich, East Indian Plants, 1828, 32. 



Blanco, Flora de Filipinos, 1837. 



|||| Jussieu, Ann. du Museum, Vol. V., 1804. 



ff G-. Don, General System of Gardening and Botany, Vol. IV., 1837. 



*** Alph. de Candolle, Prodr. Syst. Nat. Regni Veget., Vol. VIII., 1844. 



tft Miers, Contributions to Botany, Vol. I., p. 24. 1851. 



ttt Choisy. Memoires des Ternstrosmiacese, p. 9. 1855. 



