CnAP. irr.] 



FLOWERING PLAXTS. 



93- 



from appreciation of its attractions, to plant it by the 

 road side and in other conspicuous positions. From 

 the points of the branches panicles are produced, two 

 or three feet in length, composed of flowers, each the 

 size of a rose and of all shades, from a delicate pink to 

 the deepest purple. It abounds in the south-west of 

 the island. 



The magnificent Asoca^ is found in the interior, and 

 is cidtivated, though not successfully, in the Peradenia 

 Garden, and in that attached to Ehe House at Colombo. 

 But in Toompane, and in the valley of Doombera, its 

 lovehness vindicates all the praises bestowed on it by the 

 poets of the East. Its orange and crimson flowers grow 

 in graceful racemes, and the Singhalese, who have given 

 the rhododendron the pre-eminent appellation of the 

 " great red flower," (maha-rat-mal,) have called the 

 Asoca the diya-rat-mal to indicate its partiahty for 

 " moistirre," combined wdth its prevaihng hue. 



But the tree which will most frequently . attract the 

 eye of the traveller, is the kattoo-imbul of the Singha- 

 lese^, one of which produces the silky cotton which, 

 though incapable of being spun, owing to the shortness 

 of its dehcate fibre, makes the most luxurious stufRns: 

 for sofiis and piUows. It is a tall tree covered wdth 

 formidable thorns ; and being deciduous, the fresh 

 leaves, hke those of the coral tree, do not make their 

 appearance till after the crimson flowers have covered 

 the branches with their bright tuhp-hke petals. So 

 profuse are these gorgeous flowers, that when they fall, 

 the ground for many roods on all sides is a carpet of 

 scarlet. They are succeeded by large oblong pods, in 

 wdiich the black polished seeds are deeply embedded in 

 the floss which is so much prized by the natives. The 

 trunk is of an unusually bright green colour, and the 



^ Jonesia Asoca. 



^ Bomhax Malaharicus. As the 

 genus Bombax is confined to tropi- 

 cal America, tlie German botanists. 



Scliott and Endliclier, have assigned 

 to the imbiil its ancient Sanskrit 

 name, and described it as Salnialia 

 Malaharica. 



