206 Melastomacece. {Sonerila.. 



8. S. robusta, Am. in Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 308 (1836). 

 Thw. Enum. 107. C. P. 426.* 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 533 (including S. Harveyi). 



Stem arising from a short rootstock with thick fleshy- 

 scales, 1-2 ft. high, branched above, shaggy with long, 

 spreading, stiff, rufous hair ; 1. numerous, closely placed, often 

 overlapping, J-i in,, very shortly stalked or nearly sessile, 

 broadly oval, rounded or subcordate at equal base, obtuse, 

 finely serrate -ciliate, rufous -hairy above with long hairs, 

 glaucous with scattered hairs beneath, strongly 5 -nerved, 

 often with two other fainter ones ; raceme short, subumbellate, 

 with long rufous hair; fl. rather large, under 1 in., anth. long- 

 acuminate, capsule campanulate, strongly muriculated. 

 Var. (3, glabricaulis, Thw. in Fl. B. Ind. 1. c. C. P. 3955. 



More slender, stems glabrous ; 1. more rotundate, quite 

 glabrous beneath, conspicuously 7-nerved, fl. smaller. 



Var. y, Harveyi.t S. Harveyi, Thw. Enum. 107. S. Hartwegi, 

 Triana, 1. c. (errore typogr.) C. P. 2974. 



As in var. /3, but anth. short, apiculate or somewhat 

 acuminate. 



Upper montane zone ; very rare. Only found on Adam's Peak, where 

 it is abundant near the base of the cone. Var. (5, Bopatalawa. Var. y, 

 between Maturata and Ramboda, near Palagala at about 6000 ft. Fl. 

 March and October; bright pink, calyx purple. 



Endemic. 



The type has some resemblance to S. Hookeriana, from which its 

 sessile leaves readily distinguish it. The remarkable scaly rootstock, in 

 appearance like that of Lathrcea, does not seem to be always present. 

 Triana combines glabricaulis with S. ' Hartwegi* (= Harveyi), and they 

 are scarcely distinguishable. 



9. S. lanceolata, Thw. Enum. 107 (1859). 

 C. P. 3007. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 535. Bedd. Ic. Ind. Or. t. 299. 



Stems 2-4 ft. with divaricate branches, quadrangular, quite 

 glabrous ; 1. large, 2-3! in., sessile, or very nearly so, narrowly 

 lanceolate, more or less cordate at base, attenuate and sub- 

 acute at apex, faintly serrate in upper part, perfectly glabrous 

 on both sides, 3-nerved ; fl. large, about 1 in., racemes long- 

 stalked ; cal. glabrous, segm. triangular, acute, anth. acuminate, 

 not rostrate ; capsule over \ in., long-funnel-shaped, glabrous, 

 with broad thick ribs. 



* Some of C. P. 426 is said in Fl. B. Ind. to be S. Hookeriana. 



t Commemorates W. H. Harvey, Professor of Botany in Dublin 

 University, and a distinguished Algologist. He spent three months in 

 Ceylon in 1853 on his way to Australia, and was with Thwaites when 

 this plant was gathered. 



