14 



and more regularly than the roots of the fig, making a rather 

 symmetrical network along the trunk of the palm. Its leaf 

 branches are now already so large that they shade the leaves of 

 the palm and it would appear that the palm is doomed in a very 

 short time. 



The American rain-tree, Pithecolohium saman, is planted freely 

 in the Botanical Garden and elsewhere in the vicinity. It 

 seems to flourish just as well as it does in the Philippines but the 

 Ceylonese trees are mostly larger, with more widely spreading 

 convex crowns. Their flowers are about two inches wide in close 

 umbels with numerous exserted stamens. We were interested 

 in observing the sleep movements of this plant. By five o'clock 

 in the afternoon, although the sun is still shining, the stomata are 

 closed but most of the leaves are not yet in sleep position. A 

 few of the leaves at the ends of rapidly growing stems approach 

 the sleep position, but this may be due more to their age. The 

 petiole remains motionless, while the pinnae of the double com- 

 pound leaf soon begin to drop. Shortly after the stomata have 

 closed, the pinnae reach an angle of forty-five degrees from the 

 vertical. By 5 130 they are only fifteen degrees from the vertical 

 and by six o'clock, one hour after the stomata have closed, they 

 are nearly or quite vertical, bringing the opposite pinnae together. 

 At the same time the leaflets fold upwards so that they bring 

 their upper surfaces together and at the same time point forwards. 

 This condition continues through the night, and by 6:30 in the 

 morning the stomata are again open. At this time the pinnae 

 are still almost vertical and the leaflets not yet unfolded, but in 

 half an hour or an hour more they have returned to their usual 

 daylight position. It will be observed that the movement of 

 the leaf is always preceded by the opening or closing of the 

 stomata and one might suspect that there was some correlation 

 between the two phenomena. 



Several trees of the sea-shore tree, Barringtonia speciosa, are 

 growing in the garden, where they bear fruit freely, and others 

 are planted along the lake-shore in Kandy. The petals of these 

 flowers are about an inch long but the conspicuous feature of 

 them is the mass of white stamens. These are three inches 



