CHAP. III.] 



FLOWERING PLANTS. 



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 every shade, from a delicate pink to 

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

 the island. 



The magnificent Asoca 1 is found in the interior, and 

 is cultivated, though not successfully, in the Peradenia 

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

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

 loveliness 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 partiality for 

 " moisture," combined with its prevailing hue. 



But the tree which will most frequently attract the 

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

 lese 2 , one of those which produce the silky cotton which, 

 though incapable of being spun, owing to the shortness 

 of its delicate fibre, makes a most luxurious stuffing for 

 sofas and pillows. The species in question is a tall tree 

 covered with formidable thorns ; and being deciduous, the 

 fresh leaves, like those of the coral tree, do not make their 

 appearance till after the crimson flowers have covered 

 the branches with their bright tulip-like 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 

 which 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 



1 Jonesia Asoca. 



2 Bombax Malabaricus. As the 

 genus Bombax is confined to tropi- 

 cal America, the German botanists, 



Schott and Endlicher, have assigned 

 to the imbul its ancient Sanskrit 

 name, and described it as Salmalict 

 Jfalabanca, 



