228 Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon. 



mass of the herbaceous vegetations belongs to the natural orders 

 Scrophularinece, Leguminosce, Rubiacece, and Composite. 



Proceeding southward through this flat country, a considerable 

 difference in the general appearance of the vegetation is observed, 

 arising no doubt from the greater amount of rain which falls during 

 the course of the year. The trees are not only larger, but their 

 foliage is heavier and of a darker hue ; and the numerous Acacias, 

 which give so striking a feature to the north, almost disappear. 

 Between Colombo and Galle, shrubs belonging to the natural order 

 Euphorbiacece are very numerous, both in species and individuals, as 

 well as a variety of Rabiacece, of which the beautiful Ixora coccinea 

 is not the least common. It is only in this range that the pitcher 

 plant (Nepenthes distillatoria), which is not, however, peculiar to 

 Ceylon, is met with, growing in moist places, and supporting itself 

 among the bushes. About Galle, and from thence inland to the 

 base of Adam's Peak, one of the most common shrubs is that which 

 has been named in honour of the great Humboldt — Humboldtia 

 laurifolia ; and on the low hills near Galle a few trees are met with, 

 which farther north do not exist under one thousand feet of elevation, 

 but this is easily accounted for by the greater atmospheric moisture 

 of that district. One of these trees is a new and remarkable species 

 of Durian (Durio Ceylanicus, Mihi) . It is in this district that the 

 greater number of the sugar plantations of Ceylon exist. 



The east side of the Island being much drier than that of the west, 

 the consequence is that its vegetation has more of the character of 

 that of the northern province than of the opposite coast It must, 

 however, be remarked that, with the exception of the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Trincomalee and of Batticaloa, the eastern side of 

 the Island is a terra incognita to the botanist. 



Generally speaking, the first two thousand feet of the mountain 

 range is covered with a dense forest of large trees, which are charac- 

 terized by a foliage of a much larger size than that of the low- 

 country forests, and nearly of an uniform dark green colour, except, 

 indeed, when the large Iron-wood tree (Mesua Ceylanica) is putting 

 forth its young leaves, which are of a blood-red colour, and at that 

 season give a remarkable aspect to the forest. To the general obser- 

 ver the trees of the next two thousand feet appear but little different 

 from those of the first, but the eye of the botanist can at once detect 



