366 VOYAGE OF H.M.S. HERALD. 
late years, and principally by foreigners. In Durango Dr. L. Kegel, a 
German physician, has made himself very useful by introducing a great 
number. I obtained from that gentleman a series of notes respecting 
the horticulture of the place; but, however interesting, they are too 
long to be here inserted.* Of culinary vegetables, none excels the 
cauliflower, which grows to such a size that a single head measures 
one and a half to two feet in diameter, and makes a donkey-load. 
This gigantic cauliflower is not distinct from our European species, but 
solely produced by a cultivation which necessity has dictated. Being 
one of the northern vegetables that degenerate, or bear no seed, if not 
annually procured from Enrope, it is propagated in a different way. 
After the heads have been gathered, the stubs are allowed to throw 
out new shoots. These are employed for cuttings, and have to grow 
two years, producing in the second the enormous heads. Among the 
exotic fruits the peach and vine succeed best. The principal indige- 
nous fruits are the Tejocote (Texocote of Hernandez), a Pomacea, per- 
haps an Amelanchier, and the Zapote blanco (Casimiroa edulis, Li. and 
Lexarza). Casimiroa is one of the numerous genera whose place in 
the Natural System is not definitely settled. By analyzing, I found it 
to belong to the order Araliacee, and to be closely related to the genus 
Paratropia, DC. The diagnosis of Casimiroa, as given by La Llave and 
Lexarza in Nov. Veget. Descrip. ii. 2, and in Endlicher’s ‘ Genera 
Plantarum,’ sub no. 6879, is deficient ; but I do not see any mistakes 
in it except one, viz., the insertion of the stamens. The tree hasa 
remarkable tendency to accommodate itself to different climates. It 
grows from the lowest coast-region up to an elevation of 7,000 feet, 
producing everywhere an abundant harvest of delicious fruit. It was 
well known to the Aztecs, who termed it Iztactzapote and also Cochi- 
tzapote; the former name is composed of the words izíae (white) 
and ézapote (sapote). Tzapote, from which comes the Spanish corruption 
-~ zapote, and the English sapote, signifies a succulent fruit, containing 
. large hard seeds, as, for instance, that of Lucuma, Anona, Achras, Se. 
~ —a word for which our present botanical terminology has no equivalent 
. expression. The second name, Cochitzapote, is derived from cocht 
(to make sleepy) and ¢zapote (sapote), as the fruit, when eaten, 
= * Dr. L. Kegel has the best and largest garden in Durango, and even possesses a 
~ hothouse for the cultivation of Mexican Orchidew, which is, I believe, the only 
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