LA MORTOLA. 5 



the Palazzo Orengo is seen forming a centre to the surrounding 

 grounds, not that the path leading to it has been drawn with ruler 

 and compass, but, on the contrary, following many windings, and 

 through a manifold variety of plants. Everywhere the graceful 

 golden flowers of the Acacia are seen ; these plants are Australian, 

 and there are about seventy species in the garden, displaying a 

 very different appearance within the sharply-defined general char- 

 acteristics of the tribe of the numerous Acaciae. There are the 

 graceful pinnate leaves of Acacia dealbata, the short phyllodes 

 (reminding one of willows) of the Acacia cyanophylla, A. nemo- 

 pkylla, and A. retinoides, or the linear leaves of A. calamifolia. 

 Acacia Kangaroo (A. armatd) forms a contrast to these with its 

 small curled phyllodes vertically inserted and soon falling off. The 

 stipules are here represented by spines. Still more threatening 

 are the shining ivory spines of A. horrida, Willdenow (A. Karroo, 

 Hayne ; A. eburnea, Hort. Paris), and not less surprising the 

 broad, thick leathery leaves of A. excelsa, having also their blades 

 vertically placed. These stiff and thorny Acacias are, however, 

 far surpassed by Colletia horrida and other menacing Rhamnaceae 

 from Chili, Peru, and Mexico. Among the native bushes Caly- 

 cotome spinosa, Link (Spartium, L. ; Cytisus, Lamarck), most 

 resemble the above-mentioned shrubs. Among the flowering 

 shrubs the great Polygala bushes are especially conspicuous P. 

 Dalmaisiana ; Diosma alba ; and Solanum Warszewiezii with its 

 tree-like spreading branches ; the great-leaved Wigandia cara- 

 casana ; a number of Salvias, among others, Salvia nigrescens ; 

 S. camphorata, which has the smell of the camphor from Borneo 

 rather than that of common camphor ; and 6". albo-cczrulea, with 

 its scent of ripe fruit ; also Medicago arborea, L., a native of 

 Tuscany and Naples ; Genista fer ox ; the white-blossomed Cytisus 

 palmensis, from the Balearic Isles; Veronica salicifolia ; Teu- 

 crium fruticans, L. Most noticeable, too, are the huge flower- 

 heads of the Mexican Echium frutescens, like a gigantic specimen 

 of our Echium vulgare, itself by no means a delicate plant. The 

 gray densely -pubescent composite Pteronia incana (Asteroideae) 

 unites the elegance of its yellow flower -heads with the most 

 delicious scent of apricots. Here and there are slender blossom- 

 ing sprays of the Buddleia species, of which we know nothing pre- 

 judicial, though they belong to the poisonous natural order of the 

 Loganiacecz, which yields the deadly strychnine. Walls and rocks 



