454 Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon, 



guished from them by its erect ovules, indehescent fruit, and 

 wingless seeds. Of the eight species which I find recorded 

 in Botanical works, one is a native of Cochin China, five of 

 the Eastern Islands and the Straits of Malacca, and two of 

 Silhet. The present species, the only one hitherto discovered 

 in Ceylon, has the most Westerly range of any of the genus, 

 none as yet having been found in the peninsula of India. 



ORD. NAT. THYMELACE^E. 

 DAPHNE, Linn. 



1. Daphne inamcena, Gardn. 



D. foliis breviter petiolatis oblongis acutis basi subcuneatis 

 utrinque adpresse piloso-pubescentibus subtus pallidis reti- 

 culars, racemis axillaribus multifloris folio brevioribus, flori- 

 bus pubescentibus. 



Hab. — Margins of woods at Newera Ellia, at an elevation 

 of about 6,000 feet. Flowers nearly all the year. 



Descr. — A shrub 6-8 feet high with erect slender branches. 

 Branches round, the younger one pilose-pubescent. Leaves alter- 

 nate, shortly petiolate, oblong, acute, narrowed towards the base, 

 entire, adpressly pilose- pubescent on both sides, the under surface 

 pale, reticulated, l|-2 inches long, 6-9 lines broad : petiole 1 line 

 long, pilose. Racemes axillary, shorter than the leaves, about 12 

 flowered. Flowers shortly pedicellate. Perianth a cylindrical tube 

 about 3 lines long, pubescent, and of a yellowish green colour, with a 

 4- parted limb, the lobes of which are small, ovate, obtuse, and 

 spreading. Stamens 8, in two rows at the upper part of the tube : 

 filaments very short : anthers oblong, yellow. Ovary free, pilose, 

 shortly pedicellate, 1 -celled, with a single pendulous ovule. Style 

 very short. Stigma globose. Drupe dry, oblong, enclosed in the 



