Edna's Flower Gardens 191 



slightest touch. A common cassia supplied seeds 

 frequently sold as a substitute for coffee. The 

 pretty little creeping fig and the life plant, which 

 sprouts from the notches in its leaflets, were abund- 

 ant everywhere in waste ground, on stones, and on 

 tree trunks. 



Thickets of bamboo, giant reed, and wild cane 

 were found in open places in the forest and also in 

 low grounds. A small clump of each, with one of 

 pampas grass, was planted in the garden next to 

 the bananas. 



Shade-loving flowers were grown in the edge of 

 the woods near the spring, while a pretty pool in 

 the stream was selected for an aquatic garden and 

 planted with cat-tails, rushes, yellow-flowered ne- 

 lumbo, floating-heart, marsh pennywort, water hya- 

 cinth, morass weed, and white water-lilies. These 

 were all found growing along the stream at various 

 places, and the water hyacinth was sometimes too 

 abundant. 



Seaside plants could not be cultivated near the 

 house because they required the salt, as well as the 

 sand, for their happiness. Among them were the 

 tassel plant; the bur-nut, with big yellow flowers 

 and clinging burs; the glasswort, which loves man- 

 grove swamps; the sea ox-eye; the seaside heliotrope, 



