408 TRINIDAD. 



the best advantage in the savannahs at Aripo and the Cocal, 

 where they form groups at shorter or longer intervals. 



Bananas. — This form embraces the plantain and banana, or 

 Indian fig, as well as the balisiers, the ginger and arrow-root 

 plants. We have a rich supply of these, and no doubt, in con- 

 junction with the palms, they impart to our landscape some of 

 its choicest features. Every person of taste must have been 

 struck with the exquisite beauty of some of our glens and river 

 hollows, in the composition of whose scenery the balisiers con- 

 tribute an important item. 



Malvace^. — Humboldt finds the type of this form in those 

 gigantic trees known here under the common name of silk-cottons. 

 The latter we have in the island, as also a few others, viz., the 

 wild chestnut (Carolinea) and the cork-wood (Ockroma). The 

 first of these trees, the bombax, presents this striking peculiarit 

 that, besides its enormous proportions, it affords a hospitab 

 home to a multitude of parasites from numerous families — su 

 as ferns, wild pines, orchids, and cacti, besides a host of mosse 

 and liverworts. 



Mimosa. — The elegance of this form, both as regards branches 

 and foliage, cannot fail to attract the attention of an observer. 

 Of these, the tamarind tree is the most common example, but 

 certainly not the most beautiful. This is to be found in the 

 ingas and the genera deriving from them. 



Heaths. — We have nothing like this form. 



Cactus. — Excepting on the Bocas islands, these have but few 

 representatives here, on account of the great fertility of the soil 

 and the abundant atmospheric moisture. 



Orchids. — It is well known that we possess many individuals 

 of this strange family, though they are becoming more rare in 

 the vicinity of cultivations — at least their finer kinds. But in 

 the forests they occur at every step, displaying their graceful 

 forms and gorgeous hues. 



Casuabinas. — There are a few of these — cultivated. 



Pines. — We have no pines, except a few cultivated specimens, 

 stunted and miserable-looking, as if longing for iC sweet home."" 

 There is a ridiculous exhibition of them in front of Trinity 

 church, Port-of- Spain. 



Pothos and Akoids. — We are very rich in this form, there 

 being all imaginable varieties of them. From the numerous 



ne 



t 



