316 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 2 



of this charming cedar in California as in India. In the semitropical 

 States it preserves the year round its graceful habit and fresh green, 

 modified from time to time by small flowers and ripening fruit — 

 appearances to the delight of the passer-by — sweeping the ground 

 with its branching foliage and affording shade and shelter to man, 

 bird, and beast. 



India is also famous for its flowering trees, and May is the month 

 when most of their blooms can be seen at their best. The gardens 

 and forests of north India have a full share of these silvan wonders, 

 too numerous even to be mentioned here. I know a city garden where 

 over a hundred flower-bearing varieties may be seen, together with 

 such commonplace examples as date palms, figs, and mangoes. One 

 also sees the jak {Artocarpus integrifolia) with its immense, elon- 

 gated pumpkinlike gourds growing not only from all the branches 

 but from the trunk, often weighing 30 pounds. Both the coarse 

 albumen and malodorous seeds of this species are cooked and eaten 

 by the natives. Then there is the peepul tree {Ficus 7'eligiosa) or 

 bo tree, sacred to Buddha, one of which (in front of a Sinhalese 

 temple in Anarajapura) is the oldest historical living object, having 

 been planted there more than 2,000 years ago. This venerable tree 

 is only exceeded in age by our California redwoods. 



A fine example of tree blooms is yielded by the tulip or cork tree 

 {Millingtonia horteiisis) that flowers in the tropical winter. Its 

 elmlike tops and surrounding branches are clothed by pure white, 

 scented florets. Also covered with masses of white, sweet-smelling 

 blossoms is the sacred neem tree {Melia duhia) . 



Perhaps the most attractive of all the flowering trees of north 

 India is the Brownia. Twice a year it furnishes a massive crop of 

 rhododendronlike, heavily perfumed, yellow and red blossoms. Not 

 only are the spreading branches thickly loaded, but, wonderful to 

 relate, through rents in the bark of the trunk appear magnificent 

 blooms that may almost conceal the bole of the tree. 



For some reason or other I failed to recognize near my Indian 

 residence a good-sized Gardenia fiorida, often called the cape jasmin, 

 of whose white flowers I am very fond. When I did wake to the 

 fact of its presence, I also learned that one of my servants had daily 

 robbed the tree of its bloom and sold me a buttonhole bouquet for a 

 few annas. I am foolish enough to believe that the surprised pleas- 

 ure of each transaction that I continued to express really meant 

 more to him than the few pennies that were duly exchanged for these 

 lovely flowers that would have sold for as many shillings on Bond 

 Street. 



One of the most interesting of the trees introduced into India and 

 Ceylon from tropical America is the candle tree {Parmentiera cer- 



