1898] Small — Vegetation in the Bermudas. hi 



tion attacked them, and their cultivation has been mostly 

 abandoned. The Lime {C. Lvnettd) seems less liable to disease 

 and fruits well. 



The Pomegranate {Punica granatuni), between a shrub and 

 and a tree, bearing large showy crimson flowers, is abundant 

 everywhere. During the winter months it is deciduous, present- 

 ing an appearance of dead wood. But with the approach of 

 spring its lance-shaped leaves and handsome flowers make it a 

 conspicuous object. It grows more frequently in hedges than 

 as a single shrub. 



The Papaw [Carica Papaya) is a straight unbranched tree- 

 like shrub from 10 to 25 feet high, and is ubiquitous. Its leaves 

 on the summit of its stem, which is naked, are from one to one 

 and a-half feet in diameter, on long stalks, and the fruit round, 

 orange-yellow when ripe, and of the size of a large orange lying 

 on the stalk in rotation one above another below the leaves, pre- 

 sents the idea of oranges both ripe and green fastened on the 

 bare stem. It may be described as semi-cultivated, for there is 

 scarcely a waste patch of ground on which the papaw has not 

 secured a foothold. The fruit, rather mawkish, is eaten as a 

 desert, and in its green state is valued in cookery for the peculiar 

 property it possesses of softening animal fibre and assisting 

 digestion. From its juice Pepsin is manufactured, an industry 

 about to assume large proportions. 



The Dog-bush {BaccJiaris heterophylla), an erect bushy 

 shrub from 3 to 6 feet high with leathery leaves and white blos- 

 soms, growing on the edge ot marshes, is one of the chief 

 decorations for houses and churches at Christmas, and it has the 

 property of keeping green and ornamental for months. I have 

 seen it in March still retaining its decorative effect, although 

 placed in position at Christmas. 



The Datura {D. Metel), rather an arborescent plant than a 

 shrub, although attaining a height of from 5 to 12 feet, is of a 

 beautiful growth, with large bell-shaped drooping flowers, 6 

 inches long, and of a pure white. It is allied to the Datura or 

 Thorn-apple of northern climes. 



