EFFECT OF A TROPICAL CLIMATE UPON PLANTS. 35 



propagated ; the scarlet flowers are pretty, but they stand wide 

 asunder on the long spikes, which does not give to it a striking 

 appearance. Noronhea chartacea survived only a few months after 

 its arrival. Blaperopus nerifolius has flowered once ; since that 

 period it has declined, and it possesses at this time a single shoot. 

 Kigelia pinnata has grown considerably, being now 5£ feet high, 

 but it has not as yet been in blossom. The greatest success has 

 been connected with Hibiscus rosa sinensis fl. pi., which is now a 

 shrub 12 feet high, and presents the whole year through a mass 

 of fine scarlet flowers, some 7 inches in diameter. It was new in 

 Santo Domingo, and the flower is greatly admired. During holi- 

 days the altars of the churches are, according to Spanish fashion, 

 ornamented with it ; and as the original plant came from Kew, it 

 has received here the name of La flor de la Reina Victoria. The 

 cuttings " take " with great facility, and as I have been very liberal 

 in distributing them, Queen Victm-ia's flower is now found in all 

 the principal gardens in the Republic ; it serves for ornamenting 

 the altars for Divine Service, and the half-opened buds contribute 

 to embellish, by their contrast with the shining black of the 

 luxuriant hair of the fair Serioritas, the sylph-like figures at the 

 festive dance. 



Another great favourite with the ladies is the pretty yellow 

 thyrse-flowered Galphimia, which I brought with me from Jamaica; 

 it has received the name of Consulita from my having introduced 

 it into Santo Domingo. 



We are told that Baron de Wimpfens brought the first Narcissus, 

 Hyacinths, Tulips, and Violets to Santo Domingo in 1789. If 1 

 except the latter, of which the Double Violet especially succeeds 

 well, bulbous plants do not blossom here. I recently succeeded 

 in raising the Reseda odorata, and bringing it into blossom ; the 

 first perhaps that ever flowered in Santo Domingo. A lady 

 friend of mine tells me that all her endeavours to get it to flower 

 in Porto Rico, Saint Thomas, and here, proved in vain. It grew 

 up, she says, in long stalky plants, that dried up without coming 

 into bloom. The scent of my Mignonette was as sweet, if not 

 stronger than in England ; it produced seed-vessels but no seeds. 

 The Stock (Mathiola annua), that great favourite with us at home, 

 thrives here, as far as leaves are concerned, taking the appearance 

 of M. incana, without producing flowers. I have now some 

 already fifteen months old, having therefore passed the annual 

 period, or rather two tropical seasons. The Dahlia roots brought 

 here from Europe do very well the first year ; but in succeeding 



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