Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon. 3 



Obs. I. — I much regret, that I have neither specimens 

 nor a good recent figure of Durio zibethinus, with which to 

 compare the present plant, though I have no doubt of its 

 being a congener, notwithstanding its apetalous flowers. 

 With the assistance of the figure which Rumphius has given 

 of the former species, I have, however, been enabled to draw 

 up a specific character by which to distinguish the Ceylon 

 one from it. It is not a little singular that, though they are 

 so nearly related to each other, the fruit of the Ceylon spe- 

 cies has neither the foetid smell nor the edible property of 

 the Malacca one. The tree is called Katu-Moda by the 

 Singhalese, but is not so far, as I can learn, applied by them 

 to any useful purpose. Monkeys are very fond of the nuts. 



Obs. II. — There are one or two points connected with the 

 structure of the anthers in this tree that are worthy of being 

 more fully alluded to. While examining these organs, I was 

 surprised to find them quite destitute of cells, the pollen 

 grains being naked, and entirely surrounding a globose fleshy 

 receptacle. I was then led to enquire how far this might 

 be owing to the age of the organ, but the same structure was 

 found in the bud as in the expanded flower. Although this 

 globular anther is densely covered with pollen, yet it only 

 forms a single series, and each grain is echinate and dis- 

 tinctly pedicellate, the whole forming a beautiful microscopic 

 object. I have never before met with so remarkable a 

 departure from the normal structure of the anther, nor am 

 I aware, that any such is recorded among the many peculiari- 

 ties of this organ enumerated by Mr. Brown, in his valuable 

 paper on Rqfflelsia, in the 13th volume of < The Linnean 

 Transactions,' nothing of the kind is alluded to ; nor is it 

 mentioned in the ' Lecons de Botanique 5 of St. Hilaire, 

 which is the latest work I possess on vegetable morphology. 

 In a morphological point of view, the peculiarity is a most 

 interesting one, as a greater remove from the original type of 

 an exogenous anther cannot well be conceived. 



