(U JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



palms thi ■ i > ■ - n v . Mii' ties of Alocaeaas with their gigantic leaves are 

 [< M-liaps the most effective, but a pleasing variety is afforded by the 

 many often brilliantly-coloured Dracaenas, by the curiously blotched 

 Dieffenbachias, by the picturesque and handsome flowered Heliconian 

 Alpinias, Hedycniums, and Cannas, of which at present most magni- 

 ficently- flowered, varieties may be met with in Bombay. Among the 

 very great number of other foliage plants, several hardy varieties of 

 ( 'aladiums, with brilliantly blotched and dotted leaves, the well-known 

 Coleus, and the splendid varieties of Am rant us tricolor and A. 

 sanguineus deserve to be mentioned as very effective. Cactaceous 

 plants are rare in Bombay. Among those found the wonderfully 

 large white flowers of Cereus triangularis are worth sitting up for at 

 aight, the only time they expand. Some Cactus-like Euphorbias, 

 several Agaves, Yuecas, and similar plants are fairly common. 

 The selection of herbaceous plants in the open ground is more 

 restricted and almost limited to bulbous and tuberous plants, 

 among which the Eucharis, Crinum, Pancratiums, Hymenocallis, 

 n perfectly at home in Bombay, and the splendid varieties of Hip- 

 peastrums are gradually associating themselves to the lire-coloured 

 H. c/ufstre, an old favourite of Bombay gardens. The beautiful 

 white or pink Zephyranthes remind us by the shape of their flowers 

 of our homely Crocus. Single Dahlias and Chrysanthemums are 

 friends from home, which are gradually improving and gaining 

 ground in Bombay, while Achimenes succeed fairly well, and nothing 

 is more graceful perhaps than the scarlet- flowered Pusellias. Of 

 ornamental grasses a few are very effective, as the white-variegated 

 Armulo rerxicoloj-, while the ordinary Arundo Donax, when allowed 

 sufficient room, is verv picturesque, especially when in flower, the 

 Moonj -grasses {Saccharum Sara) is not a bad substitute for the 

 Pampas-grass, and the striking foliage and graceful flower spikes 

 of Thysanotiena act tr if era are very attractive. For table- decorations 

 nothing can be more useful than the copper-coloured graceful 

 flower spikes of the lately introduced Tricholccnu rosea. Panieum 

 sukatum and P. plication are effective plants, when grown in masses 

 and Oplis/ufiius imibidUi, fol. rar. [Panieum raricijatuni), with white 

 and pinkish tinted leaves, a most useful and common plant fur cover- 

 ing bare ground. Bamboos are not very common in Bombay, ami 



