NATURAL HISTORY WORK IN CART AGO 83 



Both in producing new leaves and in flowering it is as irregu- 

 lar, as full of caprices and vagaries, as plant could be. It 

 flowered sporadically from May to December, the greatest 

 number of blooms being noticed in November when the 

 trees were most nearly leafless. At that period the color 

 effect of a number of poros together was astonishingly like that 

 produced by red maples in bloom, both in the rich yet misty 

 red color and the stiff straggling spray. At such times, one 

 branch might be leafless and loaded with red blossoms, 

 another on the same tree bare of flowers but full of new 

 leaves. In March, however, it was really full of leaves and 

 fruits. The latter are long, narrow, brown pods, constricted 

 markedly between the beans; they open while on the tree, 

 showing the bright coral-red beans attached to the margins 

 of the pods. The poro is of the same genus as the "palosa- 

 bre" described by Belt in his Naturalist in Nicaragua. 



The Reine de la Noche grew freely among trees along the 

 roadsides and borders of streams, reaching a height of ten 

 to fifteen feet. Its white trumpets were ten to twelve inches 

 long, and in April at the height of its season covered the 

 plant so thickly that the foliage was almost entirely hidden. 

 A stream-bank bearing a thicket of these plants in full bloom 

 is a sight never to be forgotten. 



Still other species have a very marked season, such as the 

 Poinsettia or "Pastora" {Euphorbia pulcherrima) which 

 blooms at Christmas time and in its full glory is a wonderful 

 sight with its clusters of brilliant red leaves and little red and 

 yellow flowers. The castor-oil {Ricinus com^nunis) and the 

 common blue sage {Salvia polystachya) flowered most freely 

 in December. This sage, although a troublesome weed, is a 

 beautiful plant, the flowers being the deepest, richest blue 

 imaginable and borne in great profusion, so that a field 

 infested with it presents a solid sheet of color. Many of the 

 numerous mimosas and acacias also had a seasonal blooming. 



