2 
Tansley and Fritsch. 
least. Exactly the same type of flora would surround him, 
some of the same species dominant in the East would still form 
a leading feature of the vegetation, and only a closer examination 
would reveal the presence of New World species, and convince the 
traveller that he had been transported some twelve thousand miles 
across two great oceans and a great continent. 
The causes of this striking uniformity are mainly two; first the 
great similarity of the conditions of life obtaining on tropical coasts, 
and secondly the fact that the great majority of the characteristic 
species composing the flora are adapted for distribution by ocean- 
currents, the fruits or seeds being specially fitted for floating and 
for resisting the effect of salt water. There can be no doubt that 
these plants are actually distributed by the great oceanic currents, 
and that this is not only one great cause of the wide distribution of 
the specialized tropical coast flora, but is also the means by which 
new tropical islands, e.g. coral atolls and volcanic islands, are 
colonised as they appear. 
The late Professor Schimper made a detailed study of the 
Eastern tropical coast vegetation and it is to his results, fully set 
out in that most attractive book" Die Indo-Malayische Strandflora ” 
(1889), that we owe most of our knowledge. 
The flora of the Ceylon coast is a good example of the Indo- 
Malayan type, and as we have each had an opportunity, at different 
times, of examining parts of this vegetation for ourselves, we have 
thought an account of some of its aspects might not be without 
interest. Though we have nothing of special importance to add to 
Schimper’s work, there are several smaller points of interest that 
we can bring out, and a first-hand sketch, even though a partial one, 
of the Ceylon littoral flora, of which no general account seems to 
have been published, may be of some value. 1 
From Negombo on the west coast of Ceylon to Hambantota 
on the south-east coast is a distance of about 160 miles. We have 
visited a considerable number of separate localities along this 
stretch, which comprises the whole of the south-western and 
southern shores of the island, and are able to give a very fair idea 
of its flora. In addition to this one of us has had an opportunity 
of examining the littoral flora at Trincomalie on the East coast, and 
a few observations made at this locality will be recorded in the 
following pages. 
1 The late Dr. Trimen’s well-known “ Handbook of the Flora of 
Ceylon” has been of great use in identifying plants, checking 
distributions, &c. 
