1890.] D. Brain—- 4 List of Diamond Island Plants. 273 



through the sand and mud, exposing to the water of the sea at high tide, 

 to the air and the sun at low tide, from 6 inches to a foot of a structure 

 as thick as the little finger and of the consistence of solah pith. The 

 jungle along the south and east sides of the island commences at the 

 edge of the sandy beach, the roots of the trees being washed by the 

 waves at very high tides ; the trees that grow at this line are Thespesia 

 populnea, Pongamia glabra, Erythrina indica, Terminalia Catappa, Stephe- 

 gyne diversifolia, and Ficus Bumphii. Bast of the cleared part in front 

 of the telegraph office and round as far as the graveyard, are a number 

 of large Tamarind trees ; it is not improbable that these have been 

 planted. One specimen of Terminalia Catappa growing close beside the 

 boat house differed from all the others in being in flower. There is no 

 doubt that this particular tree is T. Catappa, and there is hardly a doubt 

 that it is an introduced tree. But that the others (and it is a plentiful 

 species in Diamond Island) which were all, like those on the coast 

 near Port Blair in the Andamans, and like those seen a week later on 

 Table Island and the Great Coco, in almost ripe fruit in November and 

 December, are quite wild and indigenous in the island scarcely admits 

 of a doubt.* Underneath these trees along the south side occur Hibiscus 

 tiliaceus, not plentifully, however, and, especially towards the south- we ;t 

 angle of the island, Desmodium umbellatum. On the west side of the 

 island, which is the most weather-beaten side, the trees are not so tall, 

 and they are fewer in number, though all these species except Pongamia 

 appear. But close to the beach we find there is a dense hedge-like mass 

 of Desmodium umbellatum, Tabemaemontana crispa, Premna integrifolia 

 and Clerodendron inerme, with here and there some bushes of Vitex 

 Negundo. All these species occur on the north side of the island also, 

 and at the extreme north-east corner there is a considerable patch of 

 Quettarda speciosa. All round the island Canavalia ensiformis is plenti- 

 ful ; it is associated on the western sea-face with Pueraria phaseoloides, 

 Ipomoea grandiflora and Ipomoea digitata ; the last named species is 

 common also in the interior. On the south side a form of Capparis 

 sepiaria, the most plentiful of the interior climbers, comes to the verv 

 outer limit of the jungle all along ; it is here and there accompanied by 

 Colubrina asiatica. There are several patches of Ipomoea biloba on the 

 beach, but the species is not so common as it usually is in such situa- 

 tions ; and Ipomoea dentimdata, which has no t been generally believed 

 to occur so far north, is many times more plentiful. Near the mouths 

 of all three streamlets, and also at the almost bare south-western corner 

 of the island, there are considerable patches of Cyperus pennatus. The 

 cleared space near the telegraph-office is mainly covered by a short turf 



# As regards Great Coco Island a doubt on the point is impossible. 



