884 ON THE FLORA OF CEYLON. 
shrubby species of Aurantiacee and of the genera Memecylon (very 
characteristic of all parts of Ceylon), Bauhinia, Phyllanthus, Croton, 
Maba, Ixora, &c. Climbers are comparatively few, species: of 
y : 
Bamboos are almost absent, and Palms quite so. Except after the 
ins there are very few herbaceous plants to be seen, and 
are also absent, but to make up, several of the larger and more 
handsome ones are found on the trees, as Vanda Roxburghii, V. 
spathulata and Saccolabium guttatum. 
ime does not admit of further details. Towards the coast the 
soil becomes more sandy and the higher forest disappears, a 
scrubby semi-littoral vegetation taking its place. Stunted thorny 
thickets of “ Andara” (Dicrostachys cinerea), and species of Acacia, 
Carissa, Zizyphus, Gmelina, Azara, &c., cover the country, and are 
ornamented with climbing species of Ipomaa, Asparagus, Asclepiadea, 
Cucurbitacee, and vines. This vegetation passes into the truly 
seashore flora. 
8 
the two climatic districts of Ceylon itself. So far as the flora is 
concerned, one would think the separation of Ceylon from the 
mainland (now parted by the very shallow Palk’s Strait) to be 
geologically recent; even the few endemic species in this part of 
Ceylon are all closely related to the continental ones, and clearly 
ble n And the Malayan 
element, so prevalent in the low country of South-west Ceylon, is 
t 
home of whieh noble palm still remains one of th 
cal Department maintained by the Colonial Government. It 
_ may, I think, be truly said, that no other British colony possesses 
‘So complete a system of botanical and experimental gardens as 
. Ceylon ; and I may now add that their sites have been determined 
_ on the principle that each of the climatic districts which I have 
y 
