108 BRITISH HONDURAS. 



in British Honduras in warm, moist situations, and with the 

 necessary shade. 



The plant is a climber, which easily attaches itself to rough- 

 barked trees, of which many are common in the colony. The 

 flowers inconspicuous, and borne on long slender spikes are 

 followed by numerous reddish-black berries, which, when dried 

 in the sun, become the familiar pepper-corns of commerce. 



ipecacuanha. The true ipecacuanha of commerce is not a 

 native of British Honduras, as commonly supposed. The plant 

 passing under that name is the bastard ipecacuanha, or " Eed 

 Head " (Asclepias curassavica). Indian ipecacuanha is the 

 produce of Tylophora . asthmatica, a common plant throughout 

 peninsular India, the island of Ceylon, and some parts of 

 Mauritius. 



The true ipecacuanha, is the produce of Cepliaelis ipecacuanha, 

 a half-shrubby perennial, growing under shade of trees, in hot 

 moist forests of Brazil. 



A variety of this species has lately been found in Cartha- 

 gena and New Granada, which is a larger and more robust plant 

 than that from Brazil. This is now under trial in Jamaica, and 

 it is probable that it will prove more amenable to cultivation 

 than the Brazilian form, which, strange to say, has never been 

 successfully treated on a large scale, even after some fifty 

 years of experimental trial. 



Ginger. This plant (Zingiber officinarum) I noticed growing 

 well in the neighbourhood of Mullin's Eiver, but 'in rather 

 indifferent soil. Perhaps no plant requires richer or finer soil 

 than this spice, and there is no plant which exhausts it sooner 

 and more thoroughly. 



Its cultivation should be confined to the rich backwoods. 



I can hardly, however, recommend it on a large scale. 



Turmeric. This is a medicinal and tinctorial substance 



