74 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGED 



places, allude to the great fertility of the native plants in the production of seed, which 

 grows freely where it is not choked by other plants. As an instance, it may be recorded 

 here that the last tree of Psiadia rotundifolia bears good seed in plenty; and it is 

 satisfactory to know that some brought home by Mr Morris in 1883 have germinated at 

 Kew. It is to be hoped that success will attend the efforts to raise them, so that this 

 interesting tree may be represented in botanic gardens, at least, for some years to come. 

 With few exceptions, however, the plants of St Helena seem difficult to cultivate, for they 

 languish under artificial conditions and die young. 



Petrobium arboreum, B. Br. 



Petrobium arboreum, K. Br. in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xii. p. 113; DC, Prodr., v. p. 502; Hook., 



Ic. PI., xi. p. 40, t. 1053 ; Melliss, St Hel., p. 287, t. 42. 

 Bidens arborea (foeni.), et Spilanthcs tetrandra (mas.), Eoxb. in Beatson's St Helena Tracts, pp. 301 



et 325. 

 Spilanlhus arboreus, Forst. in Comment. Soc. Goett., ix. p. 56. 

 Laxmannia arborea, Forst., Char. Gen. PL, t. 47. 



St Helena. — Endemic. Harding Spring — Burchell, 160; Central Eidge, at 2000 to 

 2600 feet — Melliss; without special localities — Hooker; Cuming; Shuter ; Bennett; 

 Seemann ; and Banks, Forster, and Robertson in the British Museum Herbarium. 



" Whitewood Cabbage-tree." 



" One of the most abundant of the indigenous plants still remaining. It grows now 

 chiefly on the south side of the high Central Eidge, extending from Diana's Peak to High 

 Peak, at about 2600 feet."— Melliss. 



Cotula coronopifolia, Linn. 



Cotula coronopifolia, Linn. ; Hook, f., Handb. Fl. N. Zeal., p. 141 ; Bentli., Fl. Austr., iii. p. 549; 

 Eoxb. in Beatson's St Helena Tracts, p. 305 ; Melliss, St Hel., p. 288 ; Buclienau in Bot. Zeit. 

 1862, p. 25. 



St Helena.— Indigenous '( Ladder Hill, in the valleys about Sandy Bay, in Eupert's 

 Valley, &c— Burchell, 147; Haughton. 



This plant is very widely spread in the southern hemisphere ; also in Europe and 

 North Africa, where, however, it it certainly a colonist. 



Melliss states that it grows over the rocky outskirts of the island, and expresses the 

 opinion that it existed in the island previous to its discovery ; but the fact that another 

 species (Cotula australis) has reached the islaud since Burchell's time, and become even 

 commoner than the former, and at greater elevations, does not support this opinion. 



Cotula coronopifolia is the " Pagoda flower " of the islanders ; so named, Melliss says, 

 from the resemblance of its flower-heads to a small gold coin, called a pagoda, of the value 

 of four shillings, and current during the tenure of the East India Company. 



