( n ) 
ORDER FILICES— FERNS. 
Sub-orb. I. Gleicheniace.®, Br. 
i. Gleichenia (Mertensia) dichofcoma, Willd. 
Bed. 1. t. 74.— This is the Koekilla of the Singhalese, and which grows 
in such abundance in the swampy ground in the Cinnamon Gardens and else- 
where, near Colombo, and choking nearly every thing else within its reach. It is 
very common all over the Island in moist places, and is often seen climbing up 
amongst trees and jungle to a height of 10 to 15 feet. In the Cinnamon Gardens 
it is as common as the Bracken, Pteris aquilina, is in some parts of the Kandyan 
country. 
SUBORD. II. PoLYPOBIACEiE. 
Tribe 1, Cyathe,®. 
2 . Cyathea sinuata, Hk. and Gr. 
Bed. 1, t. 259. — This is a small handsome tree fern, found on the banks 
of streams near Hewissa and in the Singhe Raja Forest. It was found by Moon 
many years ago, and called by him Cyathea Simplicifolia. It has a caudex about 
f to | inches in diameter, and from 6 inches to 3-4 feet high, with the fronds 
in a tuft at the top. 
3. Cyathea Hookeri, Thw. 
Bed. 1. t. 269. — Found also on the banks of streams at Hewissa, and 
in the Singhe Raja Forest, but not so plentifully as C. sinuata, and very seldom 
found in fruit. Habit : the same as that of C. sinuata, but the lower 
portion of the fronds are pinnatified, and look so like plants of Nepkroelpis exal- 
tata, that at first they are liable to be mistaken for this latter Fern, and passed 
over. 
4. Hemitelia (Amphicosmia) Walkerse, Hk. 
Bed. 1. t. 261. — This is one of the most common tree Ferns of the moist 
Forests of the Kandyan coutntry, and grows on a smaller scale in Forests about 
20 to 30 miles from Colombo. It has very large fron ds, and its caudex is the 
one generally used for making walking-sticks of it. 
5. Alsophila crinita, Hk. 
Bed. 1. t. 50. — The next species of this genus has “ gig ant ea” as one of its 
specific names, indicating that it is a gigantic or large tree fern, but I believe this 
species is the tallest of our Ceylon Tree Ferns. It is common on the Rambodde 
Pass, and in the Forests between Neura Eliya and Hackgalla, but the finest spe- 
cimens I have seen in the island were on the side of Raxawa, facing the Coffee 
Estate of that name. 
In ascending that mountain in company with my friend, Mr. A. H. Thomas 
we saw a group of what was supposed by us to be so me of our wild Palm trees 
and which I pronounced to be the Kattu-kittul (Oncosperma fasciculata, Thw.) 
but which on coming up to them, turned out to be a grove of this Fern, and 
I believe the stems of some of them were from 20 to 25 feet high, and 4 to 5 
inches in diameter. We selected one growing in vegetable mould in the middle 
of a stream, from which to procure specimens, and got a cooly to climb up it, 
warning him before hand that the tree would likely topple over when he got 
up some distance ; imagine, therefore, our surprise to find that the tree did not 
even sway with his weight on it, and he had the greatest difficulty to tear a 
