62 BOTANY. 



When one flowers, it produces quite a sensation from 

 the Thames to the Tweed. Since the above was in type 

 a botanical correspondent in the North of England writes : 

 " I dont hear whether the Amherstia which flowered near 

 London last year is going to do so again this, but doubtless 

 it will, and we shall soon hear of it." 



" Ho, Trockla ! thy tide 



Hath a beautiful bride, 

 The child of an iris- wreathed shower ; 



With vails flowing down 



From her emerald crown, 



Whose fringes unfold 



In scarlet and gold, 



A glorious sight, 



Ever graceful and bright— 

 1 he Queen of proud Ava's wild bower. 



Tall sweet-blossomed trees 



Are wooing the breeze 

 : cr highland, and dingle, and glade, 



But though they allure 



With their fragrance so pure, 



The Amherstia is fairest, 



The noblest, the rarest j 



Nor all the rich flowers 



Of Albion's bowers 

 Can vie with its purpling shade." • 



Amherstia nobilis. 



CCo8<~)On 031 QJ. cSoOSl 

 MESUA. 



The mesua, which in Ceylon is called " iron wood tree," 

 though not large, has an erect symetrical figure, whose 

 deep evergreen foliage, flowing downward from its cone- 

 shaped crest quite conceals its bowering branches, so 

 that when covered with its rich blossoms, with ivory-white 

 petals, and deep yellow stamens, it looks like the royal 

 umbrella bespangled with gold ; and the Burmese say that 

 their next Buidha, Aree-ma-taya, will enter the divine life 

 while musing beneath its hallowed shades, hence it is a 

 favorite tree with the priests who plant it around their 

 monasteries. In Sanscrit it is called nagakeshura, and 

 Sir William Jones remarks of it : " This tree is one of 

 the most delightful on earth ; and the delicious odor of 

 its blossoms justly gives them a place in the quiver of 

 Camadeva, the Hindoo god of love." 



• EUen H. B. Mason. 



