t>24 JOURNAL OF THE 



attractive to any new comer. Horticulture, from what I 

 could see, was chiefly practised for profits sake ; though in 

 several gardens there were some choice plants, which struck, 

 on account of their finer growth, the European traveller, who 

 had hitherto only seen them in the greenhouse or stove. Large 

 Draccenas were rare ; whether this tree still occurs in an un- 

 cultivated state, I know not ; no one collects the Gum Dragon, 

 except as a curiosity. Dr. Renton showed me some fine 

 Coffee trees, covered with fruit, of which the quality is said 

 to be good. He regretted, that instead of Festuca Donax, the 

 Bamboo was not more generally grown, as it succeeds so 

 well ; and I agree with him. 



On Monday and Tuesday I made excursions in the valley 

 called the Corral, and to the great water-fall, which yielded me, 

 besides the common plants of Madeira, a few rare ones, viz. : 

 Ranunculas grandifolius, Sempervivum sp., Sinapidendron 

 frutescens, Low., Bystropogon punctatus, Herit., Bupleurum 

 salicifolium, Sol., Physalis pubescens, &c. According to my 

 limited experience, the Flora of Madeira is of a thoroughly 

 South-European character ; only a very few plants, chiefly 

 Dracaena, pointing out an extra-European mixture. I do not 

 speak of the neighbourhood of Funchal ; a botanical garden 

 there, established with proper judgment, would lead to 

 brilliant results ; a novice in travelling revels in the southern 

 forms here first offered to his view. 



Of two individual plants I will only here observe, that the 

 indigenous Parietaria is that known in Germany as P. diffusa. 

 Of Cassia I only saw Cassia bicapsularis, L., the true species, 

 flowering, but not in fruit, during my stay. Cassia ruscifolia, 

 which is indigenous, according to Jacquin, in Madeira, Mr. 

 Lowe assures me, certainly does not grow in the island, and 

 that Cassia Occident alis exists only in a single garden. The 

 history of these species remains therefore still obscure. 



Tuesday, May 25. — Left Madeira in the evening. I nat * 

 exposed myself too much during my last excursion to the 

 waterfall, to the soaking rain, burning sun, and wet, in wading 



