( 62 ) 



The three species have therefore been described separately. 

 . Dlospyros affinis, Thw. Ennm. Ceyl. PL, p. 179, n. 6 



(1860). 



Kaluwella (Viriniya), Semel Panachai, S. 



Fl. B. Ind. III., 566. C. P. 2,924. Hiern, Mon. Eben. 169. 

 Bedd. Ic. Fl. Ind. Or. 1. 127 (1871). 



A moderate-sized or large tree, evergreen, dioecious and 

 polygamous ; young twigs green and slightly pubescent, 

 older twigs brown to blackand shiny; bark of young branches 

 thick, alternate longitudinal grey and black layers, 10 mm. 

 wide and 40-80 mm. long. In old trees the grey layer 

 becomes the fissure and the dark layer the ridge. The fissures 

 becomes very large and characteristic of the bark. The bark 

 peels away in irregular thick patches. 



Leaves alternate, 35-90 mm. long, 13-30 mm. wide, oval or 

 oblong, tapering towards apex, apex obtuse, narrowed at 

 base, glabrous, coriaceous ; venation reticulate, meshes wide, 

 not strongly pellucid, net veins rather prominent beneath ; 

 petiole flattened above, 10 mm. long, 1-5 mm. diameter. 



Flowers in June-August ; ripe fruits June -October. 



The polygamous condition is very frequent. At Viriniya 

 in June, 1902, 1 obtained abundance of ripe fruit from poly- 

 gamous trees of this species. The fruits were a trifle smaller 

 than those obtained from true female trees. The herma- 

 phrodite flowers only differ from the male flowers on the 

 same tree in having larger calyces and a fertile pistil, 

 the number and nature of stamens being the same. The 

 hermaphrodite flower when occurring alone on a male cyme 

 usually occupies the position of the median and oldest flower 

 (cf. D. oppositifolia). In other cases the majority of the 

 flowers of a particular cyme are hermaphrodite. (See pi. X., 

 fig. 5). 



I have also found the polygamous condition on a tree in the 

 Peradeniya Gardens in March, 1903 ; this particular tree had 

 not been in flower for at least the last three years. 



