5G6 Dr. Michael Grabham [May 5,. 



Atlantic islands, neither in Madeira is there the shadow of any form 

 intermediate with the specific kinds beyond this district ; 'but the two 

 indigenous species have long ago acquired a stability which shows no 

 sign of variation or tendency to cross with newcomers. 



The Carniolan bees, moreover, failed in the promise of their 

 youth ; and beholding the daughters of the land, that they were 

 fair, took them wives of all they chose, and were speedily led astray 

 into the evil ways of the local bee, to the detriment of my vineyard ; 

 and the last state of this man was worse than the first. 



I published a detailed account of the Echium hybrid at the time 

 when Miss North brought her charming drawings to Kew. 



In a country where everything will grow there is a great tempta- 

 tion to introduce new plants, and many a flower from this country 

 has proved a pernicious pest in Madeira. This is specially the case 

 with species of Oxalis Eupatorium and Senecio, and many more, and 

 we are now witnessing the ineradicable spread of the Freezia Refracta, 

 which settles in every crevice and enchants us with its delicate 

 fragrance. 



Among the glories of the native flora is the Ranunculus grandi- 

 folius, a giant buttercup, with its intensely yellow flower, quite two 

 inches in diameter, and with its huge characteristic, dark green 

 enamelled leaf, growing also with masses of Geranium A nemonifolium 

 and spikes of the yellow fox-glove (Isoplexis) of this region, all abso- 

 lutely specific and unknown beyond the islands. 



But, all this is mere digression and beyond the scope of my dis- 

 course, for. it is more profitable to speak in these days of colonial 

 expansion of Madeira as a focus of dissemination in the spread of 

 plants of economic value. 



I ask you to consider the biology of the small Sechium gourd, 

 which, coming from Brazil originally, has now been established in 

 Madeira for a hundred years. The gourd is one-seeded, and is 

 planted entire in the surface-ground, where, enlarging after the 

 germination of the seed into an ever-expanding subaerial rhizome, the 

 flesh surrounding the seed survives and becomes a part of the per- 

 manent plant growth. The plant is perennial in habit, throwing up 

 annually, with little or no attention, countless stems which cover 

 and closely mat a trelliswork of three hundred square yards or more, 

 whence hang in profusion the fruits of this valuable esculent. 

 I know of examples which, planted forty years ago, are still in full 

 vigour, yielding abundantly this favourite and agreeable vegetable. 

 The Sechium is of priceless value as a food, and moreover, owing to 

 the richness of its component salts, is pre-eminent in its power of 

 assimilating fatty matter. But besides all this, the plant yields 

 among its roots a substantial supply of tubers, which are hardly 

 inferior to the sweet potato in importance, and the flowers possess 

 an enchanting peach-like fragrance, which adds to the charm of its 

 cultivation. 



