526 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



(Garcinia mangostana) , durian (Durio zibetkinus) , and litchi, these 

 easily ranking to-day as among the most delicious of all tropical 

 fruits. The introduction of the high-climbing Brazilian Bougain- 

 villea, conspicuous for its great clusters of crimson-bracted flowers, 

 and the flamboyant (Delonix regia), of Madagascar, also dates 

 from his incumbency, besides that of many less known but con- 

 spicuous trees and shrubs. The flamboyant with its huge masses of 

 brilliant scarlet and orange flowers and its wide-spreading limbs, 

 nearly bare of leaves at flowering time, is now one of the common 

 trees about Kingston and in other parts of the lowlands. It was 

 Wilson also who successfully introduced Amherstia nobilis, of 

 India, well known as the most gorgeously beautiful of all large- 

 flowered trees. 



During this period the Bath Garden appears to have been subject 

 to frequent inundation by the Sulphur River, and this fact, together 

 with the difficulty of further extending its boundaries to accommo- 

 date new plants, led eventually (in 1860) to the beginning of a new 

 garden in the interior of the island at Castleton. From this time on 

 the Bath Garden, despite its location in an extraordinarily fertile re- 

 gion of heavy rainfall and rich alluvial soil, was allowed to diminsh 

 steadily in importance and, unfortunately, in extent, until at the pres- 

 ent time it covers hardly more than an acre. Very recently nursery 

 work has been revived at this old garden, and it is now used as a 

 center for the propagation of cacao. As a small arboretum Bath is 

 still of value, moreover, since it includes mature individuals of many 

 interesting trees, among which may be mentioned the durian, the huge 

 talipot palm {Covypha umbraculifera) of Ceylon and southern India, 

 the deadly upas tree (Antiaris toxicaria) of Indomalaya, the Anda- 

 man redwood (Pterocarpus indicus), the rattan palm {Calamus 

 rotang), and the nickel tree (Ormosia jamaicensis) , the last recently 

 described as new. Wilson, while in charge of the Bath Garden, lived 

 near by at Mansfield, an estate lying at about 1,000 feet elevation at 

 the southern end of the almost unexplored John Crow Mountains, 

 and made an extensive collection of native plants, particularly of 

 ferns. 



CASTLETON GARDEN. 



The actual establishment of Castleton Garden under the direction 

 of Wilson followed closely upon the selection- of the site, in 1860-62, 

 and the development of this wonderful collection of exotic plants, 

 mainly trees, from all parts of the Tropics, has since progressed 

 steadily. Castleton, which is ideally suited to its purpose, may be 

 described briefly as an exceedingly humid interior valley of about 30 

 acres at low elevation (about 580 feet above sea level), closely shut in 

 upon three sides by steep hills. It has an annual rainfall of 120 



