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but it was easy to see that many of them are of temperate-zone 

 affinity. They are violets and brambles, various species of 

 composites and valerians, and several species of melastomes. 

 There are tall specimens of Solaniim indicum with blue flowers 

 and very prickly stems, a Vernonia, a few gingers with clusters 

 of red flowers, and a matted, tangled, impenetrable bamboo 

 with hispid, almost nettle-like, leaf sheaths. 



The most remarkable feature of the forest, however, is the 

 frequent dense growth of Strohilanthus . This is a short-lived 

 shrub of the Acanthus family. It has opposite leaves and a 

 square stem which is seldom freely branched, so that it assumes 

 the habit of a giant Coleus. The bark is rather thick, but soft 

 and juicy, and grayish brown in color. The stem is slightly 

 enlarged at each node and may be three or four inches in diameter. 

 These plants do not occur everywhere through the mossy forest, 

 but only in dense patches, where the stems are almost as close 

 as wheat. Being short-lived the ground is carpeted with fallen 

 stems and since these are woody they do not decay at once but 

 may accumulate to a depth of two or three feet. Walking 

 through a patch of Strohilanthus is an exceedingly arduous task, 

 as one can easily imagine. 



Trimen in his Flora of Ceylon has an interesting paragraph 

 on the habits of Strohilanthus: "Many of the species which grow 

 in the upper montane zone are remarkable for their gregarious 

 occurrence in vast abundance and over large areas. The 

 principal ones, especially common, and together or separately 

 forming unbroken sheets of undergrowth in the forests, are S. 

 viscosus, asperrimus, calycinus, and sexennis. . . . These live for 

 several years without flowering, growing close together with 

 straight erect stems, which in some reach a height of 8-io ft., 

 are quite woody, and several inches in diameter. A few flowers 

 may here and there be found every year, but it is not until the 

 plants reach a certain age, apparently usually from 10-13 years, 

 that the whole patch or area bursts into simultaneous blossoming. 

 These patches or districts are often of great extent, and the 

 boundaries between those of different ages are very conspicuous, 

 being as distinct as if artificially sown. After this general and 



