TREES AND SHRUBS 131 



The blossoms of the daturas are known as bellas 

 noites by the Portuguese, though the night-scented 

 flowers of Cestrum vespertinum seem to share 

 the name with them ; occasionally, it is true, the 

 latter are deemed masculine, and are therefore 

 called boas noites. The following interesting 

 description of Brugmansia or Datura suaveolens is 

 taken from Mr. Lowe's "Flora of Madeira," written 

 in 1857 : " The flowers are slightly fragrant by day, 

 but much more powerfully and diflusedly so after 

 sunset and through the night, when, by moonlight, 

 they display an almost radiant or phosphorescent 

 snowy- whiteness, and expand more fully, falling into 

 elegant thick horizontal rows or flounces on the 

 trees or bushes. Nothing can exceed their grace 

 and loveliness when in full luxuriance and perfec- 

 tion, which it may be said to attain at intervals 

 of four to five weeks continuously, from June to 

 November or December. The tree is esteemed 

 noxious, and therefore in Madeira of late years has 

 been banished from gardens and near proximity 

 to houses. This idea perhaps originated from an 

 accident which occurred some forty years ago, 

 when two or three children, having eaten a few of 

 the seeds, escaped by timely medical assistance, 

 with no further harm than the effects of an 



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