The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY 



Vol. V. MARCH, 1903. No. 3. 



AMERICAN BOTANICAL GARDENS. 



n. THE BOTANICAL GARDENS OF JAMAICA.* 

 By John W. Harshberger. 



SITUxA.TED in tlie heart of a charming tropical region is located the 

 Government Botanic Garden at Castleton, twelve miles from the 

 north coast of Jamaica and nineteen miles from the capital, 

 Kingston, on the south coast. This garden, the finest on the island for 

 tropical vegetation, is most easily reached from the Jamaican Colonial 

 Railroad by stopping off at Annatto Bay, and taking carriage through 

 the hill country to Castleton. Some prefer, however, to take the drive 

 of nineteen miles from Kingston, which can be done by hiring a carriage 

 for the day's trip, which is a long one. 



The ride from Annatto Bay and from Kingston is over one of the 

 finest roads on the island. The trip from Annatto Bay, the preferable 

 one, is made along the valley of the Wag Water River. The ascent 

 from the plains is a gradual one. Banana plantations fringed with 

 trees of Bauhinia variegafa are passed on the plains of the Wag 

 Water, just outside of the town of Annatto Bay. As the ascent begins, 

 immense silk cotton trees {Eriodendron anfractiiosum) stand buttressed 

 by their flat stem-props in the fertile soil of the upland plains at the 

 foot of the hills. These trees, with huge, horizontal branches, are loaded 

 down with a luxuriant growth of tropical epiphytes and lianes. Til- 



* The first article of this series was published in Vol. V, No. 1. Though Jamaica 

 is not an American possession, it forms a part of the American continent, and we 

 have therefore decided to include Prof. Harshberger's interesting paper. — Ed. 



