102 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



[Part I. 



But that which arrests the attention even of an indif- 

 ferent passer-by is the endless variety and ahriost incon- 

 ceivable size and luxuriance of the climbing plants and 

 epij)hytes which hve upon the forest trees in every part 

 of the island. It is rare to see a single tree without 

 its families of dependents of this description, and on 

 one occasion I counted on a single prostrate stem no 

 less than sixteen species of Capparis, Beaumontia, Bi- 

 gnonia, Ipomoea, and other genera, which, in its fall, it 

 had brought along with it to the ground. Those which 

 are free from climbing plants have their higher branches 

 and hollows occupied by ferns and orchids, of which 

 latter the variety is endless in Ceylon, though the beauty 

 of their flower is not equal to those of Brazil and other 

 tropical countries. In the many excursions which I 

 made with Dr. Gardner he added numerous species 

 to those already known, including the exquisite Sac- 

 colahium guttatum, which we came upon in the vicinity 

 of Bintenne, but which had before been discovered 

 in Java and the mountains of northern India. Its 

 large groups of lilac flowers hung in rich festoons 

 from the branches as we rode under them, and caused 

 us many an involuntary halt to admire and secure 

 the plants. 



G-. sylvestre, to whicli lias been given 

 the name of the Ceylon cow-tree ; and 

 it is asserted that the natives drink 

 its juice as we do milk. Lottdon 

 {Ency. of Plants, p. 197) says, "The 

 milk of the G. lactiferum is used 

 instead of the vaccine ichor, and the 

 leaves are employed in sauces in the 

 room of cream." And LindLey, in 

 his Vegetable Kingdom, in speaking of 

 the Asclepiads, says, " the cow plant 

 of Ceylon, ' kiri-angima,' yields a milk 

 of which the Singhalese make use 

 for food, and its leaves are also used 

 when boiled." Even in the English 

 Cyclopccdia of Chakles Kntght, 

 published so lately as 1854, this error 

 IS repeated. (See art. Cow-tree, p. 

 178.) But this is altogether a mis- 

 take ; — the Ceylon plant, like many 

 others, has acquired its epithet oihiri, 



not from the juices being susceptible 

 of being used as a substitute for milk, 

 but simply from its resemblance to it 

 in colour and consistency. It is a 

 creeper, foimd on the southern and 

 western coasts, and used medicinally 

 by the natives, but never as an article 

 of food. The leaves, when chopped 

 and boiled, are administered to nurses 

 by native practitioners, and are sup- 

 posed to increase the secretion of mUk. 

 As to its use, as stated by Loudon, 

 in lieu of the vaccine matter, it is al- 

 together eiToneous. Moon, in his 

 Catalogue of the Plants of Ceylon, has 

 accidentally mentioned the kiri- 

 anguna twice, being misled by the 

 Pali synonym " kiri-hangida " : they 

 are the same plant, though he has 

 inserted them as different, p. 21. 



