BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS. 25 



order producing handsome shrubs with evergreen leaves and red 

 berries, and which, strange to say, has its greatest development 

 in New Zealand. JSyiceras differs from Ardisiads in this, that 

 the fruit, when ripe, becomes a follicle. Another shrub with the 

 habits of RHizoPHORACEiE, though not belonging to the order, is 

 Avicennia officinalis^ L., a Verbeniad which extends all round 

 the Australian continent, as well as being common in Asia, 

 Africa, and America. The coasts of South Australia, especially 

 in St. Vincent's and Spencer's Gulf, are thickly furnished with 

 this kind of vegetable protection, which, though neither so 

 luxuriant, so dense, nor forming such shady groves as the true 

 tropical Mangrove, is thick and shrubby, and has a special beauty 

 of its own. 



Amid the Mangroves will be noticed a small tree with con- 

 spicuous fruits like a large green apple, three or four inches in 

 diameter. This is {Xylocarpus granatum, Keen.) Carapa moluc- 

 censis, Lam. It has four to six large irregularly-shaped, closely 

 packed seeds inside, which are said to be pressed for oil. It is 

 not cultivated for the purpose, and it grows too scantily in the 

 Mangroves to afford much oil. It extends to tropical Asia, 

 westward to east Africa, eastward to the Moluccas, and south- 

 ward to tropical Australia. 



The Mangroves further inland are inundated only during spring- 

 tides. These thickets form a well-known belt within the true 

 Mangroves, where the ground begins to be less muddy and a 

 little higher and drier. Certain species are also found where 

 there are no Mangroves at all, and these may be called the sea- 

 coast tidal-thickets. The species found are Hibiscus tiliaceus, L., 

 having large yellow flowers with a deep crimson centre, besides 

 other showy species ; Thespesia j^ojndnea, Corr., famous for the 

 rich yellow dye exuding from the brown seed-vessel ; Heritiera 

 littoralisj Dryander, or the Looking-glass Tree; Exccecaria agallocha^ 

 L., a tree with a milky juice which causes blindness, and so does 

 also even the smoke from the wood when it is burned ; Antidesma 

 bunius, Spreng., a euphorbiaceous tree which extends over the 



