Soneriia.~\ Melastomacece. 207 



Moist low country; very rare. Karawita Kande; Kukul Korale; 

 Panadure. Fl. March and September ; rose-coloured. 



Endemic. 



A handsome large plant, suitable for cultivation ; very unlike the 

 other species. 



10. S. pilosula, Thw. Enum. 108. 

 Cogn. 1. c. 506. C. P. 2687. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 534. 



Stem 6-12 in. high, with subterete pubescent branches; 

 1. large, 2-3! in., ovate-lanceolate, very unequal-sided at base, 

 acuminate, obtuse, serrate, pubescent on both sides, flaccid, 

 often purple beneath, 7-9-nerved, the lat. nerves coming off 

 from the midrib above the base (and thus penninerved), 

 petiole long, hairy ; fl. about fin., cal. hairy; anth. long, acu- 

 minate; capsule funnel-shaped, muriculate. 



Moist low country; very rare. Only found at Palabadala, Kuruwita 

 Korale. Fl. March ; dark rose-coloured. 

 Endemic. 

 The only Ceylon species with penninerved leaves except S.pedimcirfosa. 



11. S. linearis, Hook. f. ex Triana in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 76 

 (1871). 



S. Guneratnet,* Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxiii. 208 ; Cogn. 1. c. 498. C. P. 

 4012. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 536 (not given for Ceylon). 



Stems erect, 12-15 in. high, woody below, cylindrical, with 

 very numerous weak, slender, spreading branches, quadran- 

 gular, quite glabrous, purplish red ; 1. apparently in whorls of 

 4, sub-sessile, \-\ in., linear-strap-shaped, tapering at base, 

 obtuse at apex, entire below, with a few distant sharp serra- 

 tions in upper third, glabrous, thick, pale beneath, with very 

 prominent midrib, no side nerves ; fl. in small very short 

 recemes or solitary, about § in. diam., ped. slender, glabrous, 

 segm. fleshy, oblong-oval, obtuse ; anth. acuminate but not 

 rostrate ; capsule small, under \ in., funnel-shaped, much 

 tapering at base, quite glabrous, strongly ribbed. 



Moist low country; very rare. Near Hewesse, Pasdun Korale (1878), 

 Dotalu Kande, Kukul Korale (1891). Fl. August, Sept.; bright mauve- 

 pink. 



Also in Burma. 



The apparently whorled leaves consist of 2 pairs very closely inserted 

 and decussate. When describing this in 1885 I had not had an oppor- 

 tunity of comparing it with S. linearis. Since examining Lobb's specimens 

 in Herb. Kew from Moulmein, I am, however, convinced it is the same 

 species. Cogniaux, however, maintains it as separate. 



* Commemorates JJon Seman de Silva Guneratne, for many years 

 plant-collector for the I'eradeniya Botanic Gardens, and the discoverer of 

 many novelties. He died in 1886. 



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