10 
WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 
interesting suggestions, and convinces one that there is no 
finality in pointing out the morphological resemblances 
between widely separated families. There is no difficulty 
in tracing a particular character of a floral or vegetative 
member through numerous non-related natural orders ; in 
some orders the character is presented in a suppressed or 
enhanced form, and to deduce affinity therefrom inevitably 
leads to a confused notion as to the true significance of the 
feature dealt with. 
The subject, as dealt with by Hallier, is very complicated, 
and in the end one gains very little precise information as to 
the phylogeny of any group of Angiosperms with which he 
has dealt. 
Local History .—In connection with the history of our 
knowledge of Ceylon species, twenty in number, there are 
several interesting facts to record. 
Though some of the species of Diospyros occurring in 
Ceylon are to be found in Malaya, Burma, Tropical Australia, 
Peninsular India, Anamalai hills, Tinnevelly, and South 
India generally, there are several endemic forms. 
D. Ebenum, Koenig * was the first species found in Ceylon, 
in 1776, but it has since been discovered in many parts 
of Southern India and in Malaya. It is the chief source of 
ebony in Ceylon, and the high commercial value of the timber 
was probably the reason of its being the first species to be 
recognized. It was not until five years later that the next 
species was discovered, D. hirsuta, L.,| an endemic form very 
common in the wet low-country. 
In 1795 Roxburgh^ discovered on the Coromandel Coast 
three species which were subsequently found wild in this 
Island, viz., D. Melanoxylon, Roxb., the source of most 
of the Indian ebony, but nearly extinct in Ceylon ; D. 
montana, Roxb., a species abundant in the low forests of the 
* Koenig, in Phys. Salsk. Handl., Yol. I., p. 176, 1776. 
t Linnæus, Suppl. Plant., p. 440, 1871. 
f Dr. Roxburgh., Coromandel Plants, Yol. I,, pp. 36, 87, 38, t. 46, 48, 47, 
1795. 
