242 GABDENS AND ORANGE GROUNDS OF ST. MICHAEL'S. 



Chesnut, Birch, Limes (Tilia europpea), Alder, Walnut, Nettle- 

 tree (Celtis occidentalis), Liquidambar, Ailanthus, Sumach, 

 Fraxinus lentiscifolia (common Ash would not grow), Acers, 

 Olives, Plane trees, the Ploney Locust tree (growing to a large 

 size, and producing abundance of long seed pods from fifteen to 

 eighteen inches in length), and Salix babylonica and its variety 

 crispa. Contrary to an idea I had always entertained, these 

 willows gi'ow finer and larger, planted in high and very drj^ 

 situations, than I have ever seen them near watersides in 

 England. 



Taxodiumdistichum, another tree generally supposed to thrive 

 best in damp places, when transplanted to a dry spot grew when 

 other plants moved at the same time died. Some examples of 

 this Taxodium, in the driest part of the garden, grew twenty feet 

 high from seedling plants in five years. 



The above, together with many other deciduous trees, suc- 

 ceeded well in the island. The greater part of them retain their 

 leaves till near Christmas, and are again early in leaf in the 

 spring. Populus alba might almost be called evergreen, retain- 

 ing its foliage to the end of January, and by the end of February 

 it is again covered with young leaves. P. angulata grows 

 quicker than any otlier tree in the island, plants of it having 

 obtained the height of forty feet in little more than five years, 

 forming a stem proportionately thick. Among rarer deciduous 

 trees wliich flourish here is Melia azedarach (the Bead tree), 

 which is covered with masses of lilac-coloured flowers every 

 spring — occupying the place our Persian Lilac does at home. 

 It is much employed in the decoration of triumphal arches, and 

 is strewn in the streets in wliich religious processions pass on 

 saint-days. Erythrina caffra, Crista-galli, and Corallodendrum, 

 all acquire a large size. E. caff^ra flowered last year for the first 

 time in the Azores ; its flowers closely resemble tliose of E. 

 Corallodendrum, but E. caffra being of a much better haliit, and 

 producing its flowers when in full leaf, is superior to it in beauty. 

 Acacia lophantha and julibrissin, owing to the large size they 

 acquire, must be classed as trees. The Portuguese name the 

 A. julibrissin " the Rainbow Tree," on account of its flowers pos- 

 sessing various hues. 



In addition to the Coniferous plants already enumerated as 

 being capable of withstanding the sea-breeze, are Juniperuses, 

 Cupressus, Callitris, Thuyas, and Taxus. Most of the species 

 belonging to these genera succeeded well in our garden, and if 

 sometimes slightly injured by a continuation of high winds blowing 

 from the sea, the rapidity with which young shoots and leaves 

 were formed in spring soon obliterated all traces of the injury 

 tliey had received. The Cedar of Lebanon and the Deodar suffer 



