[Footnote 1:  Lagerstroemia Reginae.]

The magnificent Asoca[1] is found in the interior, and is cultivated, though not successfully, in the Peradenia Garden, and in that attached to Elie House at Colombo.  But in Toompane, and in the valley of Doombera, its loveliness vindicates all the praises bestowed on it by the poets of the East.  Its orange and crimson flowers grow in graceful racemes, and the Singhalese, who have given the rhododendron the pre-eminent appellation of the “great red flower,” (maha-rat-mal,) have called the Asoca the diya-rat-mal to indicate its partiality for “moisture,” combined with its prevailing hue.

[Footnote 1:  Jonesia Asoca.]

But the tree which will most frequently attract the eye of the traveller, is the kattoo-imbul of the Singhalese[1], one of which produces the silky cotton which, though incapable of being spun, owing to the shortness of its delicate fibre, makes the most luxurious stuffing for sofas and pillows.  It is a tall tree covered with formidable thorns; and being deciduous, the fresh leaves, like those of the coral tree, do not make their appearance till after the crimson flowers have covered the branches with their bright tulip-like petals.  So profuse are these gorgeous flowers, that when they fall, the ground for many roods on all sides is a carpet of scarlet.  They are succeeded by large oblong pods, in which the black polished seeds are deeply embedded in the floss which is so much prized by the natives.  The trunk is of an unusually bright green colour, and the branches issue horizontally from the stem, in whorls of threes with a distance of six or seven feet between each whorl.

[Footnote 1:  Bombax Malabaricus.  As the genus Bombax is confined to tropical America, the German botanists, Schott and Endlicher, have assigned to the imbul its ancient Sanskrit name, and described it as Salmalia Malabarica.]

Near every Buddhist temple the priests plant the Iron tree (Messua ferrea)[1] for the sake of its flowers, with which they decorate the images of Buddha.  They resemble white roses, and form a singular contrast with the buds and shoots of the tree, which are of the deepest crimson.  Along with its flowers the priests use likewise those of the Champac (Michelia Champaca), belonging to the family of magnoliaceae.  They have a pale yellow tint, with the sweet oppressive perfume which is celebrated in the poetry of the Hindus.  From the wood of the champac the images of Buddha are carved for the temples.

[Footnote 1:  Dr. Gardner supposed the ironwood tree of Ceylon to have been confounded with the Messua ferrea of Linnaeus.  He asserted it to be a distinct species, and assigned to it the well-known Singhalese name “nagaha,” or iron-wood tree.  But this conjecture has since proved erroneous.]