THE HIBISCUS. 65 



and down them with wonderful agility.* Here, too, ' is 

 another beautiful creeper, the delicate pinnated leaves of 

 which, give it the most feather-like appearance, and its bril- 

 liant crimson flowers far surpass its kindred and more hardy 

 species, the fpomcea coccinea, a common garden annual. This 

 is the Ipomcea quamoclit, and its fleshy root is converted by 

 the Indians into a kind of snuff, j 



MRS. F. 

 Look at this beautiful scarlet Hibiscus. 



MRS. c. 



That is Hibiscus rosa sinensis, or daily Rose; the Chinese 

 employ it to blacken their hair and eyebrows, and also the 

 leather of their shoes. ^ For the latter purpose, the Malays 

 at Singapore (in the employ of the Europeans) also use it, by 

 rubbing the shoes with the petals of the flower, which con- 

 tain a quantity of purplish black astringent juice. It pos- 

 sesses, certainly, the advantage over our blacking, of not 

 coming off, and thus preventing the white dresses of the 

 Easterns from being sullied by the shoes. The Europeans 

 have given it, in consequence, the name of shoe-flower. 

 Another species of Hibiscus (H. esculentus,} the Okro plant, 

 is much eaten in tropical countries; and in Africa, the flowers 

 of many species of this beautiful tribe are used by the women 

 to decorate their hair. 



ESTHER. 



They are of the family of Malvaceae, are they not 1 ? 



MRS. c. 



Yes; and to the same family the Cotton tree belongs. The 

 seeds of many genera of this family are surrounded by woolly 

 or silky filaments; those of the cotton, when viewed with a 

 microscope, are covered with small teeth or notches, which 



* Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, 

 t De Candolle. \ Ibid. 



Stories of Strange Lands, by Mrs. R. Lee. 

 6* 



