297 
Stapf . — On the Softer ileae of Asia. 
do not link this set closer to .S'. zeylanica . They show rather 
a tendency to branch off in a different direction which is 
marked by the enlargement of the capsules, which at the 
same time become comparatively narrower. This glabres- 
cent form from Adam’s Peak, which was not separated 
by Thwaites, approaches very near to .S'. tenella Bedd. or .S'. 
arnottiana , v. tenella , C. B. Clarke in Hook. FI. Br. Ind. III. 
2. 532, if it is not identical, and this again seems to be the 
same as 5 . Brunonis , W. et Arn., as C. B. Clarke has already 
pointed out. If I do not sink this latter species into .S'. 
wightiana , it is because the material of it preserved in the 
Kew Herbarium is rather poor, and because the capsules 
differ more in the direction indicated above than those of any 
other form of this set. Beddome’s 5 . tenella was collected in 
the Anamally Hills, 5 . Brunonis near Courtallam, in the 
Tinnevelly District, and on Adam’s Peak. Thus 5 . wightiana , 
sensu latiore , with its numerous but quite inseparable forms, ap- 
pears within the area of S. zeylanica , and linked rather closely 
to it ; but it extends in a slightly modified form to the 
Southern part of the Western Ghats. This is the case with 
a still more modified and perhaps specifically distinct form, 
S'. Brunonis , which may for the present still stand as a species. 
4. S. hirsutula , Arn. Central Ceylon. 
This is a rather well-marked species, closely allied to Si 
wightiana , but stouter, very hairy and with larger very hirsute 
leaves, much larger flowers and longer, more acuminate or 
rostrate anthers. 
5. S. Clarkei , Bedd. Tinnevelly Distr. 
It approaches, like the former, very near to S. wightiana , 
but it differs by its leaves which are more narrowed into the 
base, by its larger flowers, and by its longer, rostrate anthers, 
which resemble those of 5 . hirsutula. 
These four species (2-5) exhibit a very remarkable paral- 
lelism with regard to the shape of the anthers when com- 
pared with the varieties of S. zeylanica. They correspond 
in .S. Brunonis and S. wightiana , where they are 2-3 ’5 mm. 
long, with those of 5. zeylanica v. vulgaris : and in 5 '. hirsutula 
x 2 
