Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon, 481 



gracilis, folio brevioribus, 3-4-floris, lobis calycinis lineari- 

 lanceolatis, acuminatis, tomentosis, corolla extus puberula. 

 Hab. — Ceylon, Mrs, General Walker,* 



Descr. — Suffruticose erect, branched, every where covered with 

 white tomentum. Branches round, leafy. Leaves verticilate, ter- 

 nate, petiolate, oblong-lanceolate, acute at the base, acuminate, 

 minutely glandular-dentate, pennivenous, veins about 12 on each 

 side, 5-7 inches long, by from 20-27 lines broad. Petioles about 6 

 lines long. Peduncles axillary, solitary, slender, about 3 inches long, 

 about 4 flowered, bearing 2 subulate bracts at the base of the pedi- 

 cels. Pedicels umbellate, 6-10 lines long, bibracteate a little above 

 the middle. Calyx free, deciduous, deeply 5 -parted, lobes linear- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 8-10 lines long, valvate. Corolla hypogynous, 

 gamo-petalous puberulous externally, about \\ inches long, purple, 

 tubular at the base, ventricosely campanulate above. Limb bi- 

 labiate, 5-lobed, lobes rounded, obtuse, entire. Stamens 5, the 

 posterior one very rudimentary, the two lateral ones sterile, nearly 

 as long as the fertile ones, villous, the two anterior ones fertile. 

 Filaments about 5 lines long, thickened and geniculate about the 

 middle, glabrous. Anthers subreniform, 1 -celled, cohering, glabrous. 

 Ovary free, glabrous, seated in an hypogynous cup- like annular 

 yellow disk, siliquose, 1 -celled, with two parietal placentae formed by 

 the introflexed margins of the carpels. Style filiform, glandularly pu- 

 berulous, persistent. Stigma bilabiate, upper lip abbreviated, round- 

 ed, the lower cuneate, truncate. Capsule siliquose, straight, about 3 

 inches long, 1 -celled, 2-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds 

 numerous, pendulous, oblong, acute at both ends. Testa brown. 



CHIR1TA COMMUNIS, Gardn. 



C. Caule suffruticoso ramoso, ramis teretibus adpresse pe- 

 losis, foliis oppositis, petiolatis ovatis, basi rotundatis vel sub- 

 cordatis, apice acutis vel sub-acuminatis, integris supra ad- 

 presse pilosis, pedunculis axillaribus solitariis folio sub-aequa- 



* About ten years ago, the late General Walker and his lady made very large 

 botanical collections in Ceylon, the great mass of which were sent to England to 

 Sir William Hooker, who previous to my leaving for Ceylon, kindly allowed me 

 to select a set of them to take out with me. 



