INTRODUCED PLANTS AND ANLMALS. 245 



tributed by the mynah birds. The larger species without doubt eanie originally 

 from India, but has been extensively planted in warm climates everywhere. 



The tamarind,** a name which, by the way, is derived from the Arabic mean- 

 ing "Indian date," is an exceptionally beautiful and useful tropical tree. It 

 attains a great height and its delicate acacia-like foliage crowded together so 

 as to produce a dense head makes it a shade tree that is considered by all 

 travelers to be one of the noblest in the tropics. It is probably a native of India 

 or Africa, but has been generally introduced in tropical countries. The pods, 

 numerous and from three to six inches long, contain an acid pulp that in the 

 islands is made the base of a cooling drink of much the same character as that 

 made from lemons or limes. Occasionally the pulp is also used in making a 

 delicious tamarind butter, but as a general rule they are allowed to fall to the 

 ground or to be carried off by roving children. The wood is greatly esteemed 

 in the manufacture of furniture. It is yellowish-white, sometimes with vari- 

 colored sap streaks, and is very hard and close-grained. 



The B.\nl\n. 



The Banian (or Banyan) tree, a name derived from the fact that it furnished 

 shelter for the open markets of the banians, or Hindu merchants, and therefore 

 literally a "market place," is a common tree in Honolulu. The family to which 

 it belongs is well represented in the gardens and parks of the city, there being 

 at least a dozen or more of the large arboreal species that can be easily recog- 

 nized, usually, though not always, by the pendant aerial roots. The Banians 

 all belong to the great order'' to which the common fig ^" ; the Indian rubber 

 plant,' 1 the Bengal banian tree,'- and the creeping fig'''' on our garden walls, as 

 well as some six hundred other similar species scattered throughout the tropics, 

 are referred. The most ornamental plant, perhaps, is the India rulil>er jilaut. But 

 the great spread of the typical banian tree, which sends down some of its 

 branches or aerial roots that in time take root in the soil, is one of the largest 

 and most thrifty-looking trees growing in Hawaii. Many of the related species 

 have the same or similar methods of reproduction. 



Pepper Tree. 



Aninng oilier imiiortant shade trees in the islands must l)e mentioned the 

 pepper tree'^ that grows so extensively throughout California. It is easily 

 recognized by its graceful, swaying branches and red berry-like clusters of fruits 

 about the size of ])eppercorns, from which re.semblanee it derives its popular 

 though misleading California name. 



The kamani,'"' or tropical almond, often planted for the shade afforded by 

 its broad, horizontal branches and large, broad leaves, is an introduced species 

 coming originally from Asia. Before the leaves fall they take on the brilliant 

 autumn colors common in cold climates, and thus add nuich to their ]iictnresque 

 beautw The tri'c is also known as the Deniei-ara ahiKind. mi ai-cdiinl of the 



