March 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
621 
To the Editor. 
NOTES OiS CEYLON BOTANY 
Dear Sir,— With reference to tlie cuttings 
from the Pioneer re Inuiau Botany, whieli you 
have kindly sent me for perusal, I think .he 
history ef Ceyloa Botany will bear an interestinj; 
compariaon with that of our neighbourins conti- 
nental flora, ina-inuch as the former dates back 
to a somewhat remoter period. 
The Sinhalese, as a race, have been credited with 
being " natural botanists," and supposed to have 
possessed in pre-European times some systematic 
classification of their plants, as so many of their 
vernacular names would, indeed, seem to indicate. 
Those of us who have had any acquaintance with 
plants in other countries cannot but be struck 
with the comparatively intimate knowledge which 
the Sinhalese have of their native plants and 
their uses, as well as witli the we ilth of verna- 
cular plant-names, which, unlike so-called 
English names, have the merit of being 
usually descriptive; many of the botanical names 
of Ceylon plants are, in fact, mere Latini^ations 
of the vernaculars ; as, for instance, FAephantopus 
Sinhalese " Et-adi," meaning elephant's foot- 
print) ; Kokoona (" Kokoon " of the Sinhalese) ; 
Ipomnct Pestigridis (" Divi adiya " tiger's foot- 
print); Naraveiia ^" Uara-vel " of the Sinhalese) 
&c. A fact which also suggests the precedence of 
Ceylon over India in early botanical operations 
is, that so many plants which are as common 
• on the Indian mainland as in Ceylon are named 
Zeylanica,. But 
" What though the spicy breezes 
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle " 
and figure conspicuously in its ancient history, 
the earliest record of scientific interest in regard 
to the Flora of Ceylon, dates from about the 
middle of the 17th century. Thus the credit of 
pioneer botanical work here, as in India, belongs 
to the Dutch, the Portuguese having left no 
testimony of any sp cial interest being taken by 
them in the botany of the island. 
Prior to 1660 a Mr. Hartog was sent on a 
botanical expedition to Ceylon by Dr. Sherard, 
a leading botanist of his time ; but the results 
of this undertaking are not of much consequence. 
The first important contribution to the 
knowledge of Ceylon Botany was made by Mr. P. 
Hermann, a|distinsuished scientist of his period 
and a medical officer of the Dutch East India 
Company by whom he was engaged in 1670;77 to 
describe the plants and spices growing in the 
island." This was about twenty years before the 
advent of the Eortus Malabaricus, the first 
published record of Indian Botany. It may 
easily be imagined that Hermann's task was 
beset with many difficulties, the interior of Ceylon 
being then dangerous and practically impene- 
trable to Europeans, but he succeeded in making 
a dried collection of plants comprising about 600 
species, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Colombo 
and Galle. This nucleus herbarium, having 
changed many liands in Europe and been "lost 
for about half a century," was ultimately puij 
chased by tUe celebrated Sir Joseph Banks for 75 
guineas, 'and is now an important botanical relic in 
the British Museum, London. 
Hermann supplemented his sp.eciniens ^yith 
manusciipts and drawings intended for publication; 
but unfortunately the scientific world of his age 
did not gain iiy his labours, the result of which 
was not pnblislied till 1717 (22 years after Her- 
mann's deiiili) in the form of Museum Zeylmiicum, 
an 8vo. volume with the plants arranged alpha- 
-NO. I. helically under their native names with Latin 
descriptions. This may be said to be the founda- 
tion of the Botany of the East Indies. 
A second collection made by Hermann, com- 
bined with Mr. Hart'ig's material already referred 
to, furnished the basis of the Thesaurus Zeylani- 
cus, a 4to. volume issued in 1737 by Professor J. 
Burman, an enthusiastic botanist of Amsterdam. 
Tliis was a cieditaMe (jroduction in its time, 
containing llu well-executed illustrations, with 
the vernacular names airaii;;ed alphabetically 
above copious Latin letter-press — Yours truly, 
X. Y. 
NO n. 
Dear Sir, — Some years later, in 1745, Her- 
mann's herbarium fell into (he bands of the illus- 
trious Swedish botanist, Chas. Liimteus, who after 
two years' careful =tufly of its contents published 
in 1747 his Flora Zeylanica, a small 8vo,, in 
which Ceylon plants are fur the hrst time arranged 
on the famous sexual system invented by Linnreus 
himself and which bears his name. This book 
contains in Latin, a concise view of the progress 
of Botany from the restoration of learning in 
the ICth century. The great author has expressed 
himself thus on the vegetation of Ceylon : — " A 
delicious climate has granted to this island plants 
of such variety and value, that scarcely any soil 
can vie with it for the abundance of its aromatic 
productions. The pastures are scented with basil 
(Ocymum, ' Maduru-tala ' of the Sinhalese) and 
its wood with- cinnamon, cardamoms and flowers 
of ihe most exquisite colour, structure and fra- 
grance.'" The fact that Linnaeus in his epoch- 
making book, Species Plardarum (1753), referred 
to the Ceylon species as types, renders Hermann's 
herbarium of special scientific value. 
Dr. C P Tliuhberg, the celebrated botanical 
traveller, and Danish Physician, whose name is 
commemnraied in the beautiful genus Thunhergia, 
visited Ceylon in 1777-80, and was followed in 
1782 by Dr. J G Kosnig, the "Father of Modern 
Indian Botany," who made an important collection 
of plants in the lowcountry, which he afterwards 
bequeatheil to Sir Joseph Banks and it is now in 
the British Museum. 
Whether in the cause of science or of the sys- 
tem of Government monopoly which was then in 
vogue, it is recorded that the Dutch had about 
the middle of the the 18th century commenced an 
experimental garden in Slave Island, worked by 
slave labour — hence the name "Slave Island "of 
today. But this venture had apparently but a 
short existence. 
Thenceforward for three quarters of a century 
scientific interest in the Botany of Ceylon seems 
to have languished. With the advent of British 
rule in 1796 it was recognised that a proper ac- 
quaintance with the vegetation of the island was 
necessary for the due development of its resources, 
and that the best means of inciting a desire for 
such knowledge, as well as of introducing and 
experimenting v.'ith new and useful products, was 
by establishing a duly equipped Botanic Garden, 
Accordingly a site was chosen at Peliyagoda, 
on the Kelani River, and in 1799 Mr. J Jon villa 
* This passage is probably Heber's 
for his "spicy breezes.'' — Ed, T.A. 
justification 
