17 
Flora of the Ceylon Littoral . 
vegetation, present much the same character as the whole inland 
vegetation of this region. The commonest forms are a spiny 
species of Capparis, various species of Acacia , an unfortunately 
undetermined species of Clerodendron , and Euphorbia Tirucalli, 
which already forms a prominent feature of the vegetation at 
Tangalla: amongst these, species of Vernonia and Blumea are 
commonly found, whilst Cassia auriculata with its prominent flowers, 
is also often met with. 
The other members of the Beach-jungle flora are found only 
as isolated trees, here and there on the edge of or among the 
coco-nuts, or about the coast villages, or forming part of woods on 
the shores of the estuaries where the soil is firmer than it is in the 
typical mangrove swamp. The commonest and most characteristic 
of these trees are Terminalia Catappa (Combretaceae), Calophyllum 
Inophyllum (Guttiferae), Barringtonia speciosa (Myrtaceae), Heritiera 
littoralis (Sterculiaceae), Pongamia glabra (Leguminoseae) Hernandia 
peltata (Lauraceae), Hibiscus tiliaceus and Thespesia populnea 
(Malvaceae). Terminalia Catappa (The Indian Almond) is 
not a native of Ceylon or India, but is extensively planted in the low 
country. In the Malay region it forms, according to Schimper, a 
feature of the Beach-jungle, and is called by him an “Etagenbaum.” 
the branches spreading out in horizontal plates or “ stories ” with 
spaces between. This character is often but by no means always 
to be observed in the Ceylon trees of this species. 
One of the chief common characters of these Beach-jungle 
trees, as of many other members of the strand-flora, is the adaptation 
of the fruits or seeds to distribution by ocean-currents. This 
subject is very fully treated by Schimper. 1 The fruits and seeds of 
all the above-mentioned trees are very common objects in the drift 
on the Ceylon coast. 
Among somewhat less conspicuous but characteristic coast 
trees, may be mentioned Dolichandrone Rheedii (Bignoniaceae), 
which occurs inland as well, and Excoecaria Agallocha (Euphorbiaceae) 
both of which are also found in and about mangrove swamps. As 
we have already said, the line between Beach-jungle and man¬ 
grove-forest cannot be sharply drawn, though the typical forms of 
the two formations are of course totally different. Careful distri¬ 
butional and physiological work is wanted before we can obtain a 
more exact knowledge of the proper relations of these two 
formations. 
1 loc. cit. pp. 166-183. 
(To be continued.) 
