94 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



[Part I. 



branches issue horizontally from the stem, in whorls of 

 threes with a distance of six or seven feet between each 

 whorl. 



Near every Buddhist temple the priests plant the 

 Iron tree (Messua ferrea) ^ for the sake of its flowers, 

 with which they decorate the images of Buddha. They 

 resemble white roses, and form a singular contrast mth 

 the buds and shoots of the tree, which are of the deepest 

 crimson. Along with its flowers the priests use hke- 

 wise those of the Champac {Michelia Champaca)^ be- 

 longing to the family of magnohaceai. They have a pale 

 yellow tint, with the sweet oppressive perfume which 

 is celebrated in the poetry of the Hindus. From the 

 wood of the champac the images of Buddha are carved 

 for the temples. 



The celebrated Upas tree of Java (Antiaris toxicaria), 

 which has been the subject of so many romances, ex- 

 ploded by Dr. Horsfield '^, was supposed by Dr. Gardner 

 to exist in Ceylon, but more recent scrutiny has shown 

 that what he mistook for it, was an alhed species, the 

 A. saccidora, which grows at KornegaUe, and in other 

 parts of the island ; and is scarcely less remarkable, 

 though for very different characteristics. The Ceylon 

 species was first brought to public notice by E. Eawdon 

 Power, Esq., government agent of the Kandyan province, 

 who sent specimens of it, and of the sacks which it 

 fin^nishes, to the branch of the Asiatic Society at Colombo. 

 It is known to the Singhalese by the name of " riti- 

 galia," and is identical with the Lepurandra saccidora, 

 from which the natives of Coorg, hke those of Ceylon, 



' Dr. Gardner supposed the iron- 

 wood tree of Ceylon to liave been 

 confounded with the 3fessna ferrea 

 of Linnjeus. He asserted it to be a 

 distinct species, and assigned to it the 

 well-kno%vn Singhalese name " na- 

 f/nha/' or iron-xvood tree. But this 

 conjecture has since proved eiToneous. 



^ The vegetable poisons, the use of 

 which is ascribed to the Singhalese, 

 are chiefly the seeds of the Dutura, 



which act as a powerfid narcotic, and 

 those of the Croton tiglium, the ex- 

 cessive effect of which ends in death. 

 The root of the Neriuin odorum is 

 equally fatal, as is likewise the ex- 

 quisitely beautiful Gloriosa siqwrba, 

 whose brilliant flowers festoon the 

 jimgie in the plains of the low 

 coimtry. See Bennett's account of 

 the Antiaris, in Hoesfield's Plantm 

 Javanicce, 



