THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. G2g 



of the glandular appendages of P. zeylanica for the benefit of my 

 readers. Superficial readers will find it irksome, but to the practical 

 student of Botany, Dr. John Wilson's researches are of rare value - 

 this consideration is my only apology for thus occupying the pao-es of 

 this Journal. 



With regard to the presence of pith in Plurhhago zeylanica, I may 

 notice this fact that the new branches which shoot from the root direct 

 as apart from the main-stem, on cross-section show a good deal of 

 pith in the central part. This morphological condition does not exist 

 in the regular branches of the main-stem. The longitudinal striation of 

 the green-glaucous bark is also well-marked in the branches shooting 

 forth from the base of the stem. 



The flowering time given by Trimen in Ceylon is between December 

 and March. In September last the plant flowered in my garden in 

 Thana, and now in the middle of October there is no flower ; the fruit 

 is maturing. The last time I saw my garden plant flower was in 

 February of the current year. It may therefore be safely concluded 

 that the plant flowers twice a year on this side of India in gardens. 



As a " Stove-evergreen " in England, the plant flowers in June. 

 (Johnson)*; Paxton f says the same. He gives the height of the plant 

 as 1| ft.; but I have in my garden, under the Indian sky, branches 

 from the main-stem measuring quite a yard in length, and exhibiting 

 a scandent habit. The plant appears to have been introduced into 

 England so far back as 1731. This is a point of historical interest. 



Kurz is brief in his description of the Plumbaginece in his Forest 

 Flora of Burma (1877, two volumes), regarding the plant I am de- 

 scribing. He disposes of the plant by simply saying it is a " vesicatory" 

 (p. 9b*, vol. II). 



Dalzoll and Gibson J observe that the divisions of the " limb " of 

 the corolla are " cuneate and retuse." They remark also that the 

 plant is *^ common on the rocky places in Concans.^' I do not 

 know if it is meant hereby that the plant grows wild in the 

 Concans. I should like to know whether this plant is wild on this 

 side of India, or whether it is an introduced plant, as the name indi- 

 cates, from Ceylon, subsequently cultivated in gardens and thus 



* Johnson's Gardener's Dictionary, Ed. 1894, p. 772. 



t Paxton's Botanical Diclionary, Ed, 1868, p. 449. 



X Bombay Flora, p. 220, Ed. 1801. 



