Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/479

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On page 125 of Vol. I of the Journal of Indian Botany is a note on the above species and its distribution. The following observations extend its habitat.

Apparently at the time Vol. I of the Flora of British India was published this species was unknown in India and had only been recorded in Ceylon. Besides the areas noted in the note referred to above I have seen this plant in the following localities in the Madras Presidency : —

In the Nellore District, close to the coast and at about sea level and also in the interior of the district. In the Tinnevelly District and in the Coimbatore District both in the dry South East portion and in the North Central.

The elevations at which I have seen it lie between practically sea level and 1,000 feet. It is typically a plant of dry and almost arid climates.

I have found the flowers in February, September, November and December and the ripe fruit in November and December.

The vernacular names I have been able to ascertain are : — ■

Telugu (Nellore) Porapotri ; Tamil Ala-kodi (Madura) and Ear an- gali (North-centre of Coimbatore).

C. E. C. Fischer.

Sir J. D. Hooker wrote in 1885 (Flora of British India, Vol. IV, p. 29) of this little plant : — " Though now a superabundant Bengal plant according to Mr. Clarke, it was unknown in Roxburgh's time and occurs in no Indian Herbarium except Clarke's. Voigt mentions it (1845) as found about Serampore, whence probably it has spread quite recently."

T. Cooke (Flora of the Presidency of Bombay, Vol. II, p. 310) writes in about 1908 : — " This weed, a native of Tropical America, is becoming naturalised in many parts of India, notably in Bengal. Woodrow reports having found it in a salt swamp near Bombay, flowering in November. I have not seen his specimens."

It would seem that this plant has been introduced, therefore into India within the past 100 years certainly, possibly within 80 years.