hav cel oft aA’ 2% 
{< vee i: 
oe 4s: 
Pecan TREES. J 141 
of its only congener, the nkey-bread- -tree, or Bao- 
bab of tropical Africa (Adansontr digitata), dissimilar 
mainly in having its nuts not suspended on long fruit- 
stalks. Evidence, though not conclusive, gained in 
Australia, when applied to the African Baobab, ren- 
ders it improbable that the age of any individual tree 
now in existence dates from remote antiquity. This 
view is also held by Dr. G. Bennett, of Sydney. The 
tree is of economic importance ; its stem yields a mu- 
cilage indurating to a tragacanth-like gum. It is also 
one of the few trees which introduces the unwonted 
sight of deciduous foliage into the evergreen Austra- 
lian vegetation. Numerousswamps and smallerlakes 
exist within moderate distance of the coast ; as in 
many other parts of Australia, these waters are sur- 
rounded by the wiry Polygonum (Muehlenbeckia 
Cunninghami), and in Arnhemsland occasionally also 
by rice-plants, not distinct from the ancient culture- 
plant. But here, in almost equinoctial latitudes, the 
stagnant fresh waters are almost invariably nourishing 
two Water-lilies of great beauty (Nymphea stellata 
and Nymphea gigantea), which give, by the gay dis- 
play of their blue, pink, or crimson shades of flowers, 
or by their pure white, a brilliant aspect to these lakes ; 
and even the Pythagorean bean (Nelumbo nucifera) 
sends occasionally its fine shield-like leaves and large 
blossom and esculent fruits out of the still and shel- 
tered waters. But how much could this splendor of 
lake-vegetation be augmented if the reginal Victoria, 
the prodigious Water-lily of the Amazon River, was 
scattered and naturalized in these lakes, to expand 
over their surface its stupendous leaves, and to send 
forth its huge, snowy, and crimson, fragrant flowers, 
