LA MORTOLA. 9 



blossoms of the slender Nicotiana glauca y Graham, not inappropri- 

 ately put among the genus Nicotidendron by Grisebach. Here 

 and there appears the graceful little Erica barbata, while walls, 

 rocks, and woodwork of all kinds are glorified with the light gold 

 flowers of the lovely fragrant Rosa Banksia ; in some places too 

 the walls are clothed with the thick foliage of the Ficus repens, 

 bearing beautiful but uneatable fruit. 



Perhaps the most effective groups are those standing some- 

 what aside from the direct path down to the Palazzo ; they have 

 been arranged with great judgment, and it would be difficult to 

 find such an array of curious and interesting species in any other 

 place. Even in the distance we are attracted by the stately 

 candelabra-like flowers of the Agaves, whose gigantic leaves take 

 up the most room in these huge groups. Besides those generally 

 grown we may mention especially A. ferox, A. Rumphii, A. 

 Salmiana, A. yuccaefolia, and many others of massive size. Great 

 numbers of the Aloe species strive with the Agaves for supremacy, 

 and show even a much greater form of variety and colour, the 

 strong stems of the Aloe arborescens, of A. Africana, and of A. 

 ferox, contrasting with lower more graceful plants of Aloe Han- 

 buryana, Baker, with its lovely coral-like blossoms ; several of the 

 sorts cultivated here, as also the two first mentioned, furnish the 

 drug Aloes. On making an incision in the leaves the bitter 

 purplish yellow juice flows out pretty freely. The flourishing of 

 Aloes speaks volumes for the climatic peculiarities of the Riviera, 

 for most of them come from the steppes and savannahs of South 

 and East Africa, where snow and ice are unknown things. The 

 mighty leaves of the Agaves and Aloes leave room between for 

 many varieties of curious Cacti, and for the still more wonderful 

 Stapelias, whose remarkably regular flowers generally grow singly, 

 in marked contrast to the Mesembryanthemums y many branched 

 and gay coloured, and covered with a charming number of flowers 

 and leaves. Among the freely -growing Mesembryanthemums, 

 which make such a beautiful covering for the shadeless rockwork, 

 is seen emerging in contrast the cork -clothed rhizome of the 

 Testudinaria (Tamus) elephantipes, a plant which may be found 

 in most European greenhouses ; it comes from the Cape, as do 

 also most of the kinds of Mesembryanthemum. Flourishing 

 examples of Cycas, Yucca, Zamia, and Draccena appear in such 

 groups, towered over by the stately Bonapartea juncea, a relation 



