23O LythraceCB. \Sonneratia. 



tapering at base into short petiole, obtuse at apex, glabrous, 

 rather thick ; fl. solitary, terminal, large, articulated on rather 

 long ped.; cal.-tube cup-shaped, segm. 4, longer than tube, 

 oblong-ovate, acute, deflexed ; pet. o; fruit about f in. wide, 

 depressed-globular, tipped with style, smooth, white. 



Mangrove swamps ; very rare. Only found at Koddiyar, near Trin- 

 comalie, Aug. 1885, in fruit. Fl. June (?). 

 Also in Bengal and Burma. 

 This possesses upright root-processes like 6". acida. 



2. S. alba, Smith in Rees Cyclop, xxxiii. (18 16). 

 Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxiii. 171. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 580 (not given for Ceylon). Rumph. Herb. Amb. iii. t. 73. 



A bush or small tree, with smooth grey bark, twigs 

 cylindrical, marked with prominent leaf-scars ; 1. 3-4 in., 

 oval-rotundate, slightly tapering at base, rounded at apex, 

 very thick and fleshy, petiole very short ; fl. large, on very 

 short thick ped., buds 6-angled, pointed ; cal.-tube with 

 6 prominent ridges extending from between the segm. to the 

 base, segm. 6, narrowly lanceolate, acute, longer than tube ; 

 pet. o ; style 1 \-2 in., stigma large ; fruit supported on the 

 much-enlarged cal. which forms a cup round the base with 

 spreading segm., turbinate, about if in. wide, much depressed, 

 flat on top, with the apiculate short style-base in the centre. 



Mangrove swamps ; very rare. Only found as yet at Chilaw, where it 

 was first collected by Mr. Nevill in 1881. Fl. Nov.; filaments white. 



Also in Malay Peninsula and Islands, Tropical Australia and Africa, 

 but not in Peninsular India. 



3. S. acida, L.f. Supp. PL 252 (1781). Kirilla, S. Kinnai. T. 



Thw. Enum. 123. C. P. 1595. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 579. Wight, Ic. t. 340. 



A shrub or small tree, twigs quadrangular ; 1. nearly 

 sessile, 2^-3 in., oblong-oval or roundish, tapering to base, 

 obtuse, sometimes apiculate at apex, slightly fleshy; fl. large, 

 3 in. long, terminal, solitary, on very short thick ped., buds 

 not ribbed, blunt but apiculate at apex; cal.-tube quite with- 

 out ribs, segm. 6, lanceolate, acute, longer than tube; pet. 6, 

 linear, about 1 in., rather longer than cal.-segm., persistent; 

 stam. about 2 in., erect ; style considerably exceeding stam. ; 

 fruit broadly ovoid or subglobular, supported on enlarged 

 cal. which forms a shallow cup, about if in. wide, rounded 

 and slightly depressed on top, with the persistent tapering 

 style-base forming a point 1 in. long in the centre. 



Tidal estuaries with the mangroves; rather common. Chilaw; 

 Negombo; Panadure: Kalutara. Fl. Sept.; dark rose-red. 



