392 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the Passi-ftora qiiadrangularis — and the ivatcr-lemon 

 {Passijlora laurifolia). The stem of the first is 

 herbaceous, the fruit round, of a hg'ht purple, when 

 ripe, witli a whitisii and rather pleasant pulp. The 

 Passijlora quadrangiilaris is the most valuable for 

 cultivation here ; and it has borne fruit in the gT'^irdens 

 of the Horticultural Society. The water-lemon is a 

 larger and more woody plant : the flowers are hand- 

 some, and very frag^rant ; and the fruit something; in 

 the shape and of the size of a lemon, full of a watery 

 but very ag^reeable tasted juice, whence the name. 

 The plant grows wild in the woods, but is often cul- 

 tivated for the sake of its fruit. It was introduced 

 into England about the same time with the pine- 

 apple, but it has not met with equal attention. 



On the American continent, and especially in 

 Brazil, where the productions of the vegetable king- 

 dom are very numerous and luxuriant, there are 

 many varieties of grenadilla, if not distinct species, 

 with which botanists do not appear to be very well 

 acquainted ; indeed, the forests and savannahs of 

 Brazil appear to offer the richest harvest for bota- 

 nical research of any ])laces now on the surface of 

 the globe. Piso, in his natural history of Brazil, 

 enumerates and gives figures of several sorts of 

 grenadilla, under the name of Murucuja. One, he 

 says, has five-lobed leaves and purple flowers, with 

 oblong fruit, larger than any European pear, filled 

 with a mucilaginous pulp, of a scent and flavour 

 that nothing can exceed. Another has the same leaf 

 and flavour, but fruit in the form and size of an 

 apple, the pulp of which has a vinous flavour. 

 There are many other sorts, but these are described 

 as the best. The grenadillas generally, which are 

 called parchas by the Spaniards, have a pleasant 

 sweetish acid, with a fragrance something between 

 that of a melon and a strawberrv. 



