246 Fruits and Fruit-Trees. 



and greenish flowers an inch across. A very old inhabi- 

 tant of our hothouses, with careful management there is 

 no difficulty in getting it to ripen, if kept in a small pot, 

 and in a constantly high temperature, with exposure to 

 all the sunshine that may be possible. 



THE BENTHAMIA (Benthamia fragifera ). 



THE Benthamia is an evergreen tree of the order Cor- 

 naceae, introduced in 1825 from Nepal; in Cornwall and 

 the south of Ireland attaining the stature of twenty to 

 forty feet, and both when in bloom, at midsummer, and 

 when the fruit is ripe, in October, presenting one of the 

 loveliest sights the garden affords. The leaves are oppo- 

 site, narrow-elliptical, entire, and of a peculiar silvery-grey 

 colour. The flowers grow in dense round heads, and in 

 themselves make no show. But, as in many species of 

 Cornus, they have an involucre of about five cream-white 

 bracts, strikingly ornamental, not only from the width, 

 over two inches, but the profusion. The fruits, when 

 ripe, coalesce into a nearly spherical succulent mass, an 

 inch and a half or two inches in diameter, of a delicate 

 yellowish strawberry colour, and elegantly tessellated. 

 Inside there are as many rather large stones as there 

 were flowers. The taste is insipid, and not such a.s to 

 recommend the fruit for table. But it may be susceptible 

 of improvement. In the presence of objects so beautiful 

 as a Benthamia in full bearing, one cannot but reflect 



