758 ON THE VOLCANO OP TAAL, 



while in China, especially about the peninsula opposite Hong 

 Kong, it constitutes a very large portion of the shrubby vegetation 

 in all waste places. It is remarkable for its large brownish bracts, 

 which look like dried hops, and enclose pretty white flowers. 



83. Olitoria ternatea, L. This climber with its pure blue 

 flowers, though once confined to Ternate, is found in all the 

 jungles and in waste places on the coast in China and Japan. 

 In the latter place it is called the Chio bean. In Malay it is 

 called Bunga-biru. The blue colour is extracted as a dye in 

 many places, and Rumphius tells us that it is used for colouring 

 boiled rice in China. 



84. Cassia alata, L. Apostola, a native name in the Philip- 

 ])ines derived from the Spanish ; also Balayong, Dauan-Kuj)ang, 

 Javanese and Malay. This shrub or small tree is a showy species 

 of the very large genus, and its large leaves and tall spikes of 

 bright yellow flowers are familiar objects in every island of the 



'Archipelago and in the Pliilippines. In some parts of the Malay 

 Peninsula it furms considerable thickets, but Malacca seems to 

 be its stronghold. The interesting collection of Dutch and 

 Portuguese ruins, surrounded with thousands, nay tens of thou- 

 sands of Chinese toml).s, is almost a thicket of Cassia alata. It 

 is a native of Asia according to some authors, and at any rate it 

 was a weed in the time of Rumphius ; but many regard it as no 

 more than a variety of a South American or West Indian species, 

 which is probably correct. It was valued as a drug, and may 

 •owe its acclimatisation to this fact. 



85. Cassia fistula, L. A tree indigenous to India, cultivated 

 and now naturalised in Egypt, tropical Africa, the West Indies 

 and Brazil, besides the Indian Archipelago and the Philippines. 

 There is scarcely a garden about Manila, and all the principal 

 cities of the East, that is not adorned with its beautiful clusters 

 of yellow or red perfumed blossoms. Many think that the name 

 is due to the long slender cylindrical pods which sometimes 

 measure half a yard or more, but the origin of the term fistula is 

 of great antiquity, and dates back to the time when the bark of 



