332  MAJOR-GENERAL MUNRO ON THE BOTANY OF JAMAICA. 
dells, where Flora loves to dwell, are rare. Iam now speaking of 
the western half of the island.  Portlandias, Solandras, and Bro- 
meliacex (rather numerous species) and the really only very com- 
mon Orchid Broughtonia sanguinea, together with Amaryllis 
equestris, in clumps of a hundred, are the principal native hand- 
some flowering plants that are to be seen. The roadsides are 
margined for miles with the pretty berries of the Abrus precatorius 
and the showy yellow flowers of two species of Stigmaphyllum 
and one species of Echites. The ordinary roadside weeds follow- 
ing you everywhere are the red and white varieties of Asclepias 
curassavica and Bidens bipinnatus. I have never seen a single 
handsome Compositous plant in Jamaica wild. Down the lovely 
valleys of Acton river the ferns are very grand in size, but not nu- 
merous in species. I measured a frond of Dicksonia dissectá, 
which I found to be 14 feet long. Several of the ferns are dimor- 
phous; and I was surprised to find one species of Anemia the 
most abundant of all the ferns. I omitted to mention amongst 
the ornamental native flowering plants Bletia purpurea, of which 
I have seen five hundred at a time growing within a space of 
very few yards. Two or three of the Melastomacee are orna- 
mental for their foliage; and on the mouutains of Newcastle 
Blakea trinervis, often called Mountain-rose, is very ornamental 
in flower. Foreign plants contribute greatly to the beauty of 
Jamaica. "The varied hues of the leaves of the Mangoes are beau- 
tiful in the extreme ; and I never recollect observing the same 
effect in India. The Mangoe is spreading itself everywhere, and 
in fifty years will be the principal tree in the island. The soil of 
Jamaica is very well suited for many foreign plants; and the hills 
about Newcastle are beautifully gay with PAaius Tankerville in 
thousands, Cuphea, Agapanthus, Morea, Tephrosia purpurea, 
Alpinia nutans, the variegated form of Abutilon Thompsoni spread- 
ing abundantly from seed, Calla ethiopica, Amaryllis, myriads of 
Brugmansia, Roses (very fine), Furze, Strawberries, &c. They are 
beautiful to look at; but you can scarcely recognize among them 
a native plant. In the Blue Mountains there is always moisture ; 
and there the vegetation of foliage is very glorious. On the fern- 
walk above Newcastle, in an hour’s time, I collected seven or eight 
different species of Tree fern, including Pteris aculeata, or an allied 
species ; Hymenophyllum and Trichomanes are there also in abund- 
ance. 
