1898] 153 



VEGETATION IN THE BERMUDAS.— Part. Ill 

 Plants and Flowers. 



By H. B. Small. 



If after the fall of man any truant flowers of Eden escaped 

 its bounds their seeds must have found a kindly soil in Bermuda. 

 Plants and flowers there attain a daring loveliness which stamps 

 them on the memory of even the transient visitor. The island 

 group may well be called "the Land of the Lily and the Rose" 

 for each of these attains a perfection far beyond the conception 

 of a dweller in the north. The many and beautiful varieties of 

 the garden rose — both bush and standard — bloom in profusion 

 all the year round, and the air is literally laden with their per- 

 fume. Bermuda is a botanists' paradise, but how many pluck 

 every striking flower they see, only to toss it carelessly aside, 

 regardless of its loveliness or its brillliancy. The Passion-flower, 

 Narcissus, Geranium, Heliotrope, Verbena, Violet', Wistaria and 

 a Creeper known as Bougainvillea, one of the handsomest 

 adjuncts to a wall or verandah that the world produces, are all 

 remarkable for their luxuriance. The Bougainvillea was intro- 

 duced from Gibralter by Governor Lefroy in 1874, and has now 

 so established itself as to be seen gracing the majority oi private 

 buildings. 



There are two species of Passion-flower, one remarkable for 

 its blossoms {Passifiora ccsru/e a), the peculiar formation of which 

 representing the emblems of Christ's Passion has given rise to the 

 name, the other {^Passiflora minima), a wild species covering road- 

 side banks and old stone walls in profusion, but the flower of 

 which is far less conspicuous than its congener. Of the Narcissus 

 two species are abundant, one {N. Tazettci) bearing a cluster of 

 numerous white flowers with a yellow eye, the other {N.jonquilld) 

 with two or three deep yellow fragrant flowers. These plants are 

 abundant on some hillsides along the edge of the cedar groves 

 or beneath the Oleander shade, and in the glades in the valleys. 

 There are two Honeysuckles [Caprifolium sempervirens) and 

 {Loniccra Japonicd), which cover the walls or trail along 



