Ecological Notes on Turnera ulmifolia, L., 
var, elegans. Urban. 
BY 
R. H. LOCK. 
{Frank Smart Student of Gonville and Cains College , Cambridge.') 
In troductory—Descrip tive—Heteros ty lism — Self-s teri lity. 
Insect Visitors—Seed Distribution by Ants. 
URNERA ulmifolia, L ., is a comprehensive species, 
including a large number of so-called varieties. In 
Ceylon two such forms exist—the varieties T. angustifolia 
and T. elegans. The latter is perhaps better known as a 
separate species under the name T. trioniflora, Sims. With 
the exception of these two forms, which occur scattered in 
several places on the coasts of the Indo-Malayan region, the 
family Turneraceæ is confined to America and Africa. 
Urban regards the presence of these two varieties in Asia as 
being accounted for by their escape from gardens ; and there 
can be little doubt that this is the true explanation in the 
case of Ceylon. 
The species has existed in Ceylon for a long time in a wild 
condition. Trimen* describes it as a common weed of road¬ 
sides and waste ground about Colombo and other places in 
the low-country, but makes no mention of the date of its 
introduction. The form commonly occurring wild is T. 
angustifolia, as I learn from Mr. Willis. T. trioniflora, Sims 
(elegans, Urban), is mentioned in Trimen’s List of Plants 
growing in the Royal Botanic Cardens as having been 
introduced before 1845 ; it grows luxuriantly at Peradeniya. 
* u 
Flora of Ceylon,” vol. II., p. 239. 
[Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol. II., Pt. I., January, 1904. J 
