374 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



( November 13, 1873. 



inEtructor is inestimable, and the more so that the knowledge 

 they afford is given insensibly, whilst indeed the lounger thinks 

 he is merely enjoying himself. Among such a tangled mass of 

 verdure we have only space or time to refer to a few of the 

 more graceful or valuable in an economic sense ; and in doing 

 so we cannot avoid availing ourselves of the valuable and in- 

 teresting guides to these gardens by Daniel Oliver, Esq., the 

 keeper of the herbarium. They are models of what such 

 guides should be — clear in description, full of facts, and with- 

 out one superfluous word. 



Arenga saccharifera, as its name implies, is a Palm yielding 

 abundant saccharine matter, which by fermentation makes an 

 excellent wine — red and white — each tree yielding on an aver- 

 age three quarts daily. Marco Polo says, " When they want 

 wine, they cut a branch of this, and attach a quart pot to the 

 stem of the tree, at the place where the branch was cut ; in a 

 day and a night they will lind the pot filled." Its fibrous 

 integument makes incorruptible cordage, and the cellular pith 

 of the trunk affords abundant sago-meal. Close beside this 

 wine and meal-giving tree is a Brazilian Palm — Astrocaryum 

 rostratum. The sight of this tree of ferocious habit reminds 

 one of the fierce tiger that lies in wait amid the verdure of 

 tropic climes. Every leaf is beset with powerful spines, which 

 mark the midribs of the leaves, and are arranged in rings 

 around the stem. Any traveller making his way in the forest 

 would certainly feel the force of these talon-like projections, 

 which justify its classification among the ferocious genus. 

 Caryota urens, another Palm, is a native of India, remarkable 

 for its divided leaves and wedge-shaped leaflets. This is 

 another wine-giving tree. It would seem as though Nature in 

 very hot climes compensated mankind for the extreme heat by 

 affording natural fountains of refreshment to the inhabitants. 

 Roxburgh, in his " Flora ludica," says, " This tree is highly 

 valuable to the natives of the countries where it grows in 

 plenty. It yields them during the hot season an immense 

 quantity of toddy or Palm wine. I have been informed that 

 the best trees will yield at the rate of a hundred pints in the 

 twenty-four hours. The pith, or farinaceous part of the trunk 

 of old trees, is said to be equal to the best sago ; the natives 

 make it into bread and boil it into gruel." Thus bread and 

 wine may be said to be the fruit of this beautiful Palm. We 

 cannot fail to recognise the tall and beautiful Cocoa-nut tree 

 (Cocos nucifera), which lifts its head crowned with graceful 

 plumes above the other trees. This Palm, which is universal 

 in tropical countries, perhaps yields a more varied produce to 

 mankind than any other tree ; indeed, it is popularly said that 

 its uses are as numerous as the days of the year. The gigantic 

 leaves of the Talipot Palm of Ceylon and the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, which casts such a shade, naturally suggested one of 

 its principal uses — the construction of tents. The West Indian 

 Fan Palm (Sabal uiubraculifera) is another specimen of the 

 broad-leaved class of Palm, the leaves measuring from 4 to 

 (i feet in diameter, and growing to a height of GO to SO feet ; in 

 this stove it is comparatively short, but the breadth of foliage 

 contrasts richly with the more plume-like class of leaves. A 

 very beautiful Palm is Phytelephas macrocarpa — the Vegetable 

 Ivory Palm. The peculiarity of this Palm is that the stem, 

 instead of being erect, trails along the ground, sometimes for 

 20 feet, before it begins to rise, and then it lifts its head barely 

 more than 3 or 4 feet. The seeds which produce the vegetable 

 ivory are found in hard clustered capsules. This ivory is used 

 for turning purposes, the cheaper kinds of chessmen being 

 made from it. The beautiful fan-like arrangement of Urania 

 speciosa, the Travellers' Tree of Madagascar, draws attention 

 to one of the most valuable trees of the tropics — a tree yielding 

 pure water. Ellis in his "Madagascar" tells us — • 



" This tree has been most celebrated for containing, even 

 during the most arid season, a large quantity of pure fresh water, 

 supplying to the traveller the place of wells in the desei't. 

 Having formerly been somewhat sceptical on this point, I deter- 

 mined to examine some of the trees. One of my bearers struck 

 a spear 4 or 5 inches deep, into the thick firm end of the stalk of 

 the leaf, about 6 inches above its juncture with the trunk, and on 

 drawing it back a stream of pure clear water gushed out, about 

 a quart of which we caught in a pitcher, and all drank of it on 

 the spot. It was cool, clear, and perfectly sweet. 



We are not aware whether in the Palm stove this water, 

 which to the thirsty traveller must seem like a direct gift from 

 God, is yielded ; if so, and the tree was not injured by it, a 

 trial now and then before the public would be deeply interest- 

 ing. At each end of the stove there are staircases, which lead 

 to and from the gallery, from which a view of the heads of the 



Palm trees is obtained. Near the ascent staircase is a very re- 

 markable group of Screw Pines, so called from the likeness of 

 their leaves to that of the Pine Apple. The great peculiarity 

 of these Palms is the manner in which they throw out adven- 

 titious roots above ground, which serve as buttress-like sup- 

 ports to the tree. The Bambusa vulgaris, close to the stair- 

 case, is a specimen of the rapidity of growth of this cane, 

 which, like the Bambusa gigantea, is rapidly reaching the glass 

 roof. It has been observed to grow at the rate of 18 inches per 

 diem ; and this very specimen has reached to the gallery from 

 the ground in three months ! The uses of the Bamboo are 

 almost too numerous to mention ; and in the Museum No. 2, 

 at the end of the ornamental water, opposite this buUdiug, 

 hundreds of specimens of articles manufactured from it may be 

 observed. Among the smaller specimens in this house, the 

 magnificent Doryanthes excelsa, an Australian Lily, which, 

 like the country of its birth, is on a magnificent scale, throws 

 up flowering stems of 20 feet in height, having clusters of crim- 

 son flowers 12 to 18 inches in diameter. Let us notice also 

 Girardinia Leschenaultiana. This is a most virulent Indian 

 Nettle. The late Curator of the gardens was stung by it on 

 one occasion, when his hand swelled to double its normal size, 

 and he was disabled for at least a couple of hours, when the in- 

 flammation gradually subsided. Before ascending the stair- 



.Icacia pentadenifl. 



p. Petiole forming the flat leaf- 

 lite phyllode. 



A, With leaflets. 

 V, "Without leaflets. 



case we must not forget to notice Antiaris toxicaria — thtj 

 deadly Upas tree. Dr. Horsefield says : — 



"This is one of the largestin the forests of Java; (he stem is 

 cylindrical and perpendicular, rising completely naked to the 

 height of CO, 70, or SO feet. Close to the ground the bark is, in, 

 old trees, more than an inch thick, and upon being wounded 

 yields plentifully the milky juice from which the celelirated 

 poison is jirepared. In clearing new grounds near the tree, the 

 inhabitants do not like to approach it, as they dread the cu- 

 taneous eruption which it is known to produce when newly cut 

 down. But except when the trunk is extensively wounded, or 

 when it is felled, by which a large portiou of the juice is dis- 

 engaged, the effluvium of which mixing with the atmosphere, 

 affects the persons exposed to it with the symptoms just men- 

 tioned, the tree may be approached and ascended like the 

 common trees of the forest." 



Thus it will he seen that the popular notion as to the deadly 

 shade of the Upas tree, which the poets make so much of, is by 

 no means to be taken as literally true. As long as its stem 

 remains intact indeed, it appears to be harmless; it is only 

 the juice which contaminates the air with poison. Ascending 



