821 



#rigmai MxtitU*. 



ON THE PLANT AFFORBING CEARA INBIA-RUBBER. 



(MANIHOT GLAZIOVII, Mull. Arg.) 



By Henry Trimen, M.B., F.L.S. 



(Tab. 215.) 



Wbxn I arrived in Ceylon in February last, I found that a good 

 deal of interest had been excited by the fruiting of some of the 

 Ceara Rubber-plants in the Royal Botanic Garden at Peradeniya. 

 Seeds from them had been distributed to several public establish- 

 ments in India and Burmah, and elsewhere in the tropics ; and 

 were also being liberally disposed of to those planters in Ceylon 

 who, in the alarm produced by the large decrease in the yield of 

 coffee, were desirous of trying other plants of a profitable character. 



As tbe number of seeds sent out from this establishment 

 has been over twenty-five thousand, and the plant has also 

 been propagated by very numerous cuttings, and as it is of rapid 

 growth and early productiveness, it will no doubt soon become 

 common in tropical countries, I have thought that a figure and 

 description would be likely to prove acceptable to the readers of 

 this journal, especially since I believe tbe plant has not been 

 previously illustrated. The present figure is from a drawing by 

 Mr. W. Be Alwis, the draughtsman attached to tbe Per; eniya 

 Gardens and the worthy successor of his father, Harmams Be 

 Alwis (mentioned by Br.Thwaites in the preface to his « Enumeratio'), 

 to whom Lindley dedicated a genus of Orchids, and who is still 

 living, at an advanced age and in the enjoyment of the native rank 

 of Mood liar, in the close neighbourhood of the gardens. 



I believe that the determination of the plant as Maitikot Gla- 

 ziovii was made at Kew. I have here no opportunity of referring 

 to the original description of J. Midler's in ' Fl. Brasihensis,' but 

 the Editor of this Journal has been good enough to send me the 

 extract, which, so far as it goes, agrees fairly well with our plant, 

 though the habit of the latter cannot be well said to be the same 

 as that of the semi-herbaceous Cassava (J*. wtiUmma and M. dipt). 

 Many species of Mavihot are stated by Bentham ('Gen. Plant, m., 

 p. 306) to be imperfectly described, and it is by no means certain 

 that M. Qlaziovn, Mull. Arg., may not be found reducible to one 

 previously described. Br. Glaziou (after whom the spec, i is 

 named) collected his specimens near Rio, so that the species must 

 have a considerably extensive range in Brazil. 



The full description now given is of course wholly drawn up 

 from the cultivated plant at Peradeniya. 



n. s. vol. 9. [November, 1880.] 2 t 



