PLANTS OF BERMUDA. IS 



Alternanthera (A. polygonoides) has found a place in the Public 

 Park. 



I. AMARANTHUS. 



Flowers imperfect, in dense spikes, the stamens and ovary on separate 

 flowers ; sepals flve, membranous, supported by three outer bracts ; stamens 

 three to five ; style one, stigmas two or three ; seed solitary, smooth, shinlny, 

 enclosed in membranous case. 



1. A. retroflexus. An annual, erect plant, stem three to four feet 

 high, reddish, grooved, pubescent ; leaves three to four inches long, 

 ovate, pointed, tapering at the base into the long red petiole, strongly- 

 veined beneath, margin undulate and tinted with red ; spikes green, 

 dense flowered, ovat«-oblong, crowded into a dense, pj^ramidal 

 panicle ; bracts awned, twice as long as the acute sepals. Distribu- 

 tion, United States ; habitat, cultivated ground, a tall, conspicuous 

 weed. Flowers green, minute ; July to October. 



Th«re apears to be a second species with cylindrical spikes, but I 

 have been unable as yet to determine it. 



+ 



Nat: Ord: 60. Laiin 



Aromatic trees or shrubs with alternate, simple, dotted leaves ; 

 sepals four to six, coloured, slightly united afc the base, imbricated ; 

 stamens opening by two or four lid-like valves ; ovary superior, 

 one -celled, one -seeded. 



This order contains the Sweet Bay (Laurus nobiUsJ, which is fre- 

 quently seen in shrubberies ; also the much -prized Avocada or Alli- 

 gator Pear (Fersea gratissima) . A number of these handsome Laurel - 

 like trees are found in Bermuda, but although producing blossoms 

 in profusion, they do not, as a rule, mature their fruit. 



Nat: Ord: 61. Euphorbiacccc. 



Herbaceous plants, shrubs, or trees, with a milky juice and sim- 

 ple, opposite, or alternate leaves; flowers unisexual, frequently 

 surrounded by conspicuous coloured bracts and often enclosed in "a 

 cup-like involucre ; calyx inferior, sometimes absent ; petals as 

 many as the calyx-lobes or none ; male, stamens few or many, dis- 

 tinct or united ; female, ovary superior, sessile or stalked ; styles 

 two or three, often branched ; capsule consisting of two, three, or 

 more one- seeded divisions, which separate when ripe from a central 

 axis. 



This order is largely rei3resented in Bermuda, some species being 

 amongst our handsomest ornamental shrubs, while others are worth- 

 less weeds. In the former class we must give the first place to the 

 Scarlet Poinsettia, often called Burning Bush (Foinsettiapulchcrrima), 

 a handsome shrub five to six feet high, the braiiches terminating in 

 clusters of greenish -red and yellow flowers, surrounded by a whorl 

 of large, leaf-like bracts of the brightest scarlet. The Coral bush 

 (Jatropha muUifldaJ is another shrub common in gardens ; the leaves 

 are cut almost to the base into seven to nine slender, finger-like, 



