Leucocodon.'] RllbiaceCB. 325 



veins beneath, strongly ciliate, thin, very bullate above, paler 

 with prominent coarse reticulate venation beneath, petiole 

 short, densely silky-hairy, stip. large, triangular, acuminate, 

 hairy; fl. large, nearly sessile, 3-12 together in rather dense, 

 trichotomous cymes, on stout, very hairy, erect (deflexed in 

 fruit) terminal peduncle, bracts numerous, very hairy ; cal. 

 hairy, segm. linear, long, acuminate; cor. -tube f in., much 

 exceeding cal.-segm., narrow below, dilated in upper part, 

 lobes nearly \ in., oblong, obtuse, spreading ; stam. included, 

 fil. apiculate; style included ; fruit f in., crowned with cal.- 

 segm., oblong-fusiform, membranous, very hairy; seeds nearly 

 globose, reticulate. 



Lower montane zone, in damp, shady places ; rather rare. Adam's 

 Peak; Sabaragamuwa; Ambagamuwa ; Hunasgiriya; Rangala Hill. 

 Fl. April-June; bright pale violet-blue, faintly sweet-scented. 



Endemic. 



First collected in 1836 by Wight and Walker. 



18. LEUCOCODON, Gardn. 



An epiphytic climbing shrub, stip. large, connate at base; 

 fl. rather small, in a terminal head, surrounded by a large 

 campanulate involucre; cal. adnate to lower § of ov., limb 

 shortly tubular, irregularly truncate, segm. o; cor.-tube funnel- 

 shaped, lobes 5, valvate; stam. 5, inserted at mouth of cor.- 

 tube; ov. only partially inferior, crowned with an annular disk, 

 2-celled, with numerous ovules, stigma bilobed; fruit fleshy, 

 indehiscent, 2-celled ; seeds numerous, compressed. — Mono- 

 typic and endemic. 



Xi. reticulatum, Gardn. in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. vii. 5 (1846). 



Thw. Enum. 138. C. P. 347. 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 94. Bedd. Ic. PI. Ind. Or. t. 94. 



A woody epiphyte, sending off (like Ivy) adventitious 

 rootlets by which it climbs, stems cylindrical, marked with 

 leaf-scars and stipular rings, young parts glabrous; 1. 4-6 in., 

 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute or attenuate at base, 

 shortly acuminate, acute at apex, glabrous on both sides, 

 petiole about \ in., stip. 1 in. long, broadly oblong, connate at 

 base, bidentate at apex, glabrous, membranous, soon falling; 

 fl. rather small, sessile, capitate, on a short terminal peduncle, 

 surrounded by a very large involucre (formed of connate 

 bracts) which is campanulate, i'-i, 1 in. wide, with 8 broad, 

 obtuse, recurved lobes, strongly 8-ribbcd, glabrous, greenish- 

 white ; cal. -limb short, truncate ; cor.-tube narrow, lobes 



