VEGETATION OF CEYLON. 
257 
altered by the hand of man, are scattered 
over the island in the most beautiful forms,* 
wilder, indeed, but not less lovely, than the 
most elaborate arrangements of the artistic 
gardener. The rich varieties of the vegetable 
kingdom which exist in Ceylon are not, how- 
ever, neglected by the natives, who, though 
they pay little attention to gardening as a 
means of adornment, have cultivated to a 
high degree the knowledge of plants and 
flowers. The object which is supposed to 
have led, at the first, to the collection of in- 
formation of this kind, was the medicinal 
virtue possessed by many of the plants, which 
has had the effect of inducing every Singha- 
lese to become acquainted to a certain degree 
with the botanical theories of his country. 
Native authors, in every species of com- 
position, have illustrated their writings by 
constant allusions to the beauty, value, and 
variety of the flowery treasures of Ceylon. 
It is supposed that the people once possessed 
a complete system of botanical arrangement ; 
but this no longer exists among them. All 
the knowledge that remains is that of the uses 
of the different parts of a flower. The 
flowers of monoecious plants they divide into 
Nikan-mal, or useless flower, and Gedi-mal, 
or fruit-flower ; and dioecious plants into 
Mal-gaha, or flower-tree, and Gecli-gaha, or 
fruit-tree. Grasses are included under the 
term Tana ; esculent greens under Pala ; 
mosses under Pari ; edible roots under A/a. 
The Singhalese names of plants generally 
indicate their qualities ; thus Patmul means 
red-root ; Kirwoel, milky - creeper ; with 
others, as the jug-flower, from the resem- 
blance of its corolla to a jug ;. and a plant 
which is called the marsh or tank flower, be- 
cause it particularly delights in such situations. 
We have mentioned the beautiful scenery 
of the island, as it appears with reference to 
the variety and loveliness of its vegetation. 
There are some spots which possess peculiar 
attractions of this nature ; and among them is 
the country round about Kallaar, where 
enormous trees, heavy with foliage, glitter 
with a variety of the brightest colours, whilst 
flowering shrubs bloom beneath in all direc- 
tions. Far superior to this, however, is the 
valley of Hahgalla, which, fringed with ber- 
berry bushes, and framed amid hills and 
hoary forests, is dotted with countless clumps 
and single trees of the magnificent Rhododen- 
dron arboreum, which impart to the landscape 
an appearance of the utmost beauty. Around 
the trunks of the trees and over the stems is 
wrapped a mossy verdure, whilst above this 
climbs the tender parasite, whose flowers 
seem too heavy for the parent stem : in 
other spots, a level sweep of park-like 
grounds, whose flats are clothed with lemon- 
50. 
coloured grass or flowery jungle, which pre- 
sent, as Mr. Pridham tells us, a landscape 
equalled in few other parts of the world. 
Indeed, if richness of vegetation constitutes 
beauty of scenery, we have it in Ceylon. The 
grass is of the most brilliant green. Planta- 
tions of pepper, indigo, cardamoms, coffee, 
cotton, ginger, and sugar plantations, alter- 
nate with rice fields, cocoa-nut groves, and 
wild jungle, with onion gardens, fields of 
hemp, and orchai'ds. 
The road along the coast towards Colombo 
drives principally through cinnamon gardens 
and plantations, which supply the town with 
a vast quantity of vegetables and fruit. The 
brilliant crimson Clerodendron infortunatum, 
Coffea trijiora, Ixora coccinea, Nepenthes 
distillatoria, of the climbing and dwarf va- 
rieties (scandens and nana), the former cling- 
ing to the cinnamon bushes, whose strong 
stems support it, and displaying its pitchers, 
some with the lid closed, others open and full 
of water; the latter shrinking into the shade 
of the overhanging trees or abundant grass. 
Groves of the wild orange, lime, and shaddock 
trees, heavy with fruit or covered with blos- 
soms, throw a most delicious odour around. 
The valley of Matale is covered with beautiful 
jungles, with orchards of citrons, limes, 
oranges, mangoes, custard apples, and jack- 
fruit trees ; whilst plaintains and cardamoms, 
with tulip-trees and huge ornamental bushes, 
flourish wild in the forest, and coffee also 
grows among the underwood. But if we 
proceed to instance examples of the luxury of 
the vegetation of Ceylon, we should far- ex- 
ceed our limits. It will therefore be only 
necessary to indicate to what extent the culti- 
vation of such plants as are ornamental is 
practised. In Colombo, where European 
manners and customs, habits and tastes, have 
been grafted on the native stock, we find neat 
gardens stretching along the fronts of many 
of the houses, planted with the tulip and bread- 
fruit tree, and with a variety of shrubs and 
flowers, and cultivated with a degree of taste, 
neatness, and skill, which, considering the 
general inaptitude of the natives for such 
occupation, cannot fail to surprise the tra- 
veller who, having made the tour of the island, 
and observed the countless instances where 
Nature revels in luxurious, but neglected 
beauty, arrives at this pretty town, to find it 
full of these marks of civilization and re- 
finement. At Dondra Head, also, at the 
southernmost point of Ceylon, the spot which 
during the seventh century formed the site of 
the Singhalese capital, there are numerous 
gardens interspersed with the rude native 
huts ; at this place the sacred pillars are also 
adorned with flowers and ornamental or odo- 
riferous shrubs. 
