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Tendre Acailloux, Piptadenia peregrina, a small tree 

 with rough bark ; the wood is used for cabinet work. 



Surprise is sometimes expressed by visiting botanists at 

 the comparative fewness of native plants in the Botanic 

 Gardens. A perusal of these pages, however, will show that 

 a considerable number of local specimens are grown. That 

 many others of great interest are not grown is largely due to 

 unsuitable climatic conditions, and not to lack of interest in 

 this very important matter. Dominica, though a small island, 

 varies greatly in climate and rainfall. Trees growing under 

 perpetually damp conditions with an annual rainfall of 200 

 inches and upwards, will fail in many cases to grow in a 

 comparatively dry locality like the Botanic Gardens, where 

 the average annual rainfall is 78 inches, and where there is a 

 pronounced dry period each year of about three months 

 duration. It is probably due to these conditions that such 

 fine specimens as Bois Pain, Talauma Plumieri ; a remarkably 

 fine flowering tree, Bois Bambarra, Diospyros Ebenaster an 

 interesting species the pulp of whose fruits are used to kill 

 fish and a number of others have failed after repeated 

 attempts to exist in the gardens. 



To the left of the path is the Malay Apple, Eugenia 

 malaccensis, a very handsome tree when in flower. The fruit, 

 though edible, is not of much account. 



Rounding the corner on the right-hand side near to the 

 foot path are: Crescentia cucurbitinu, a relation of the Calabash 

 tree, Crescentia Cujete, and the " Bread and Cheese ' tree, 

 Vithecolobium ungiiis-cati, native of the West Indies. The 

 latter is generally employed as a hedge, and rarely allowed to 

 reach the dimensions of a small tree. Further along on this 

 slope is a collection of mangoes including Peach, Malda, Julie, 

 Fifine Gabrielle, Lorieau, Savanna and Cambodiana, all of 

 which are grafted. Also Cambodiana and Java seedlings. 

 Next to the mangoes are two rows of young plants of Quebracho 

 Colorado, Quebrachia Lorentzii, a large forest tree of Argentina, 

 the wood of which is hard and durable and yields a valuable 

 extract for tanning. The bark is used in medicine. 



