[Footnote 3:  Evolvulus alsinoides.]

[Footnote 4:  Lippia nodiflora.]

[Footnote 5:  Scaevola takkada and S. Koenigii]

[Footnote 6:  Pandanus odoratissimus.]

[Footnote 7:  Moodu-kaduru (Ochrosia parviflora); Moodu-cobbe (Ornitrophe serrata); Moodu-murunga (Sophora tomentosa,) &c. &c.  Amongst these marine shrubs the Nil-picha (Guettarda speciosca), with its white and delightfully fragrant flowers, is a conspicuous object on some parts of the sea-shore between Colombo and Point-de-Galle.]

Where the sand in the lagoons and estuaries is more or less mingled with the alluvium brought down by the rivers, there are plants of another class which are equally characteristic.  Amongst these the Mangroves[1] take the first place in respect to their mass of vegetation; then follow the Belli-patta[2] and Suriya-gaha[3], with their large hibiscus-like flowers; the Tamarisks[4]; the Acanthus[5], with its beautiful blue petals and holly-like leaves; the Water Coco-nut[6]; the AEgiceras and Hernandia[7], with its sonorous fruits; while the dry sands above are taken possession of by the Acacias, Salvadora Persica (the true mustard-tree of Scripture[8], which, here attains a height of forty feet), Ixoras, and the numerous family of Cassias.

[Footnote 1:  Two species of Rhizophora, two of Bruguiera, and one of Ceriops.]

[Footnote 2:  Paritimn tilliaceum.]

[Footnote 3:  Thespesia populnea.]

[Footnote 4:  Tamarix Indica.]

[Footnote 5:  Dilivaria ilicifolia.]

[Footnote 6:  Nipa fruticans.]

[Footnote 7:  Hernandia sonora.]

[Footnote 8:  The identification of this tree with the mustard-tree alluded to by our Saviour is an interesting fact.  The Greek term [Greek:  sinapis], which occurs Matt. xiii 31, and elsewhere, is the name given to mustard; for which the Arabic equivalent is chardul or khardal, and the Syriac khardalo.  The same name is applied at the present day to a tree which grows freely in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and generally throughout Palestine; the seeds of which, have an aromatic pungency, which enables them to be used instead of the ordinary mustard (Sinapis nigra); besides which, its structure presents all the essentials to sustain the illustration sought to be established in the parable, some of which are wanting or dubious in the common plant, It has a very small seed; it may be sown in a garden:  it grows into an “herb,” and eventually “becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”  With every allowance for the extremest development attainable by culture, it must be felt that the dimensions of the domestic sinapis scarcely justify the last illustration; besides which it is an annual, and cannot possibly be classed as a “tree.”  The khardal grows abundantly in Syria:  it was