206 THE PLANT WORLD. 



shredded out into a l^eautiful and strong lace-like fabric, from 

 which many things are made to attract the tourists' shillings. 

 The guango tree (Pithccolobiiiiii Saniaii), which is common in 

 and about the gardens, is a splendid example of the spreading 

 flat-topped type of tree characteristic of dry savanna regions the 

 world over. Similar to it in appearance is the Albizzia, or 

 " woman's-tongue/' another mimosaceous tree the ripe pods of 

 which, filled with loose seeds, have suggested to the imaginative 

 black man his name for the tree. Here, too, are the " umbrella 

 tree" (Cccropia umhcUata), used in parts of Jamaica as a shade 

 tree for coflr'ee, and remarkable for its hollow stems, which in 

 some of its South American congeners have an opening in each 

 internode, inducing the cohabitation of ants ; the " sand-box tree " 

 (Hiira crepitans) , with a very spiny trunk; and the "anchovy- 

 pear" (Grias caiiUilora) , which is notable for its unbranched 

 trunk directly out of which grow flowers and fruit. Beautiful 

 indeed on a breezy day is the " star-apple" tree {ClvysophyUum 

 Cainito), for its leaves are dark green and glossy above, while 

 beneath they are silken and rusty brown. If you should behave 

 deceitfully to a native he will tell you : " Yo' two-face' like a star- 

 apple." 



Passing toward the centre of the garden we find a collection of 

 trees which are mostly exotic, — a row of date-palms, a group of 

 olive trees, ravenalas, myroxylons, Castiariiia eqitisctifolia, and 

 a double row of Caesalpinca coriaria, the " divi-divi " or " mon- 

 key 's-ear-ring tree " of Africa. In the shaded walk between the 

 divi-divi trees is arranged the collection of orchids, which must 

 be one of the finest in America, as it has been built up by years 

 of exchange with all parts of the world, and embraces many rare 

 and magnificent species. Such is the interest which the public 

 takes in the orchids that a list of the species in bloom is published 

 every morning in the Kingston papers. Most interesting to the 

 morphologist are those forms in which the shoots have undergone 

 transformation into absorbing organs, losing their foliage leaves 

 and most of the chlorophyll, and developing a velamen, but none 

 the less continuing to bear the flowers. 



The greater part of Hope Gardens is taken up with the experi- 



