BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FORM. 35 



possessing a rich, fragrant odor, approaching that of the 

 jessamine, the plants in blossom having a peculiarly rich 

 and attractive appearance, the bloom being very evanes- 

 cent and of short duration, but are quickly followed by 

 fruit, there being generally two, sometimes three, relays 

 of blossoms before all the buds mature, until after a day 

 or two, when they gradually turn brown and fade 

 away ; the slower and more gradual this process the 

 better for . the crop, which is always estimated by the 

 abundance of the blossoms. The fruit, which quickly 

 follows in the hollow of the leaves, is a fleshy or " pulpy " 

 berry, at first greenish and hard to the touch, assumes 

 a yellowish hue as it continues to ripen under the meri- 

 dian sun, the color deepening not regularly but by crim- 

 son or scarlet shades and tints which spread over the 

 surface, having at this stage the size and appearance of a 

 small cherry, assuming a dark-red or deep, glossy purple 

 black color with a smooth and bloomless cuticle as it 

 matures. In both states of flower and fruit nature is 

 nowhere so profuse and beautiful in the variety of its 

 colors and forms. The plant, being an evergreen, the 

 foliage is always fresh, and, though, in the autumn season, 

 the blossoms appear scattered among the dark-green 

 leaves, resembling flakes of snow, they are hardly ever 

 absent from the tree. It continues to put forth fruit, 

 while the blossoms are arriving at maturity, and nothing 

 is more singular or striking of its kind than its producing 

 capabilities, as at all seasons, leaves, blossoms and ripe 

 fruit are to be seen on the same tree at the same time, 

 and the fruit may be gathered at any period, but the 

 regular harvests are usually two in the course of a year. 

 Each fruit contains two seeds embedded in a yellowish 

 pulp, the seeds being again enclosed in a thin membra- 

 neous parchment. The Epicarp or outer-skin of the 



