406 TRINIDAD. 



sure symptoms of his former residence in their localities. They 

 are hardly to be met with anywhere else ; so much so, that we 

 can judge with certainty, by the mere presence of certain plants, 

 that a plantation must have existed in such or such a place ; in 

 fact, that we are in a rastrajo. Now where, I would ask, were 

 the germs of these plants previous to the eradication or decay of 

 the original vegetation ? 



The streets of Port-of-Spain are overgrown by a number of 

 plants of the genera cynodon, eleusine, cyperus, alternanthera, 

 and euphorbia ; these appear to become the more vigorous the 

 more they are trodden upon. Others could not resist or survive 

 this treatment, and, therefore, retire into vacant courtyards and 

 abandoned lots — as, for instance, the peperomia, several urticas, 

 and amaranthi, the ElephantJiopus spicatus, Eclipta erecta, 

 Parthenium hysterophorus, Synedrella nodiflora, a Hedyotis, 

 Leonurus Sibiricus, solanum, datura, and physalis, Scoparia 

 dulcis, Capraria biflora, a portulacca, a sida, and others less 

 common. On crumbling roofs and dilapidated mason- work we 

 may remark a barbula, Gymnogramma calomelanos, Dactyloc- 

 tenium jEgyptiacum, Poa ciliaris, Tradescantia discolor, urtica, 

 and parietaria, Boerhavia paniculata (Rich.), eupatorium, and 

 sonchus, borreria, and verbena, &c. Two vines, a cissus and the 

 Luffa operculata, cover nearly every old wall. 



On road-sides, we meet with certain of the same plants we 

 have just now enumerated, mixed up with a variety of species 

 belonging to different families. Where the road traverses culti- 

 vated land, the following genera prevail : — Setaria, cenchrus, 

 sporobolus, chloris, saccharum, andropogon, cyperus, and f uirena ; 

 in moist situations, spermacoce and barreria, spigelia, asclepias, 

 schultesia, and sabiea, hypfis and salvia, rivinia, sida, urena, 

 euphorbia, and croton, osbeckia, crotalaria, seschynomene, and 

 hedysarum : these grow in company with shrubs of the genera 

 hamelia, randia, rauwolfia, and lantana; also with lianes and 

 vines, such as convolvulacese, bignoniacese, echites, stigmophyl- 

 lum, paullinia, and leguminosese. A somewhat different assem- 

 blage prevails where the path lies through a forest : there we 

 find ferns of the genera adiantum, lindsaea, trichomanes, lyco- 

 podium, and selaginella ; xiphidium, piper, bohmeria, various 

 rubiaceae, acanthaceae, and bignoniacese ; petiveria, triumfetta, 

 melastomaceaa, and others. 



