Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon, 233 



confined to the plain of Newera-Ellia. In all countries, plants which 

 are introduced from others and find a congenial soil and climate, 

 and which produce their seeds in profusion, and of a nature to be 

 easily blown or carried about from place to place, are sure to natura- 

 lize themselves, and often in the course of a few years are not to be 

 distinguished from those which are really original denizens of the 

 clime. Besides those from Europe just enumerated, there are many 

 others, natives of distant tropical countries, which are now rapidly 

 spreading themselves on the Island ; and as it is of the utmost impor- 

 tance to distinguish them from those which are truly natives, I shall 

 here enumerate all those species of which I possess sufficient evidence 

 to establish their exotic origin, and mention the countries from which 

 they have been brought. 



The two species of prickly Pear (Opuntia), which are now so 

 common in dry sandy localities in the low country, are natives of the 

 tropical parts of the Continent of America, as, indeed, the whole of 

 the Cactus tribe is. The beautiful rose-coloured Periwinkle (Vinca 

 rosea), which has so completely overrun the cinnamon gardens at 

 Colombo, and other similar localities, is a native of the island of 

 Madagascar, though it has now perfectly established itself in nearly 

 all tropical countries. The climbing Alamanda cathartica, with its 

 dark green leaves, and golden bell-shaped blossoms, is a native of 

 the Guianas, and was no xloubt introduced by the Dutch. The 

 Lantanas which are to be met with almost everywhere in bushy 

 places and in hedges, are natives of the West Indies ; and such also 

 is the case with the yellow-flowered Turnera ulmifolia which is com- 

 mon by road-sides about Colombo. The Cape Gooseberry (Phy satis 

 peruviana), now so common about Rambodde and Newera-Ellia, is a 

 native of the mountains of Peru. The four o'clock plant (Mirabilis 

 Jalapa) common about Kandy, is a native of Mexico and the West 

 Indies ; and the Ipecacuanha plant, as it is erroneously called, 

 (Asclepias Curassavica) with its orange blossoms, and seeds with 

 long silky tails, is a South American. Most of these must have 

 been long established before the English took possession of the 

 country ; but the following are well known to have escaped from the 

 Botanical gardens at Colombo or Peradenia during the last five-and- 

 twenty years. The small white-flowered Passiflora foetida, now so 



2 H 



