BEACH PLANTS 57 



gold of its neighbours, is an alluring fact which must 

 not be strained. Moreover, the shrub covers an almost 

 perfect circle, about thirty feet in diameter, and since 

 it is not more than ten feet high, its form is as if Nature 

 had designed the creation of a circus of shadow, dense 

 and cool, for the comfort of mankind. 



At high-water mark stands one of the Terminalias 

 with big terminal light green leaves, musty flowers, 

 and purple fruit — gold, silver, and purple in close array 

 — while over the sand the goat-footed convolvulus 

 sends long, succulent shoots bearing huge pink flowers 

 complementary to the purple of the beach-pea {Canvalia 

 obtusifolia) . 



Under the she-oaks young coral trees have sprung 

 up, but the red flowers are of the past, and so also have 

 the gold and white of the Calophyllums disappeared. 

 But in the evening the breeze brings whiffs of a singular 

 savour, pleasant yet not sweet, which comes from the 

 acre or two of native hops a few yards back. The 

 bruised leaves thereof give off anything but an attractive 

 odour, yet the faint natural exhalations from the plant 

 are sniffed eagerly and to the revivification of pleasant 

 recollections. 



Among ^a crowd of massive shrubs sprawls a plant 

 of loose habit known as Ccesalpina bonducella, the long 

 clinging branches and the pods of which are armed 

 with hooked prickles. It is a plant of wide range, for 

 the bluish-grey seeds are said to be used in Arabia 

 for necklets. In the idle days of the past the blacks 

 were wont to enclose a single seed in a miniature 

 basket woven of strips of cane for the amusement of 

 infants — probably the first of rattles. It has seized 

 for support some of the branches of a rare tree {Cerbera 

 odollam) which bears long, glossy, lanceolate leaves, 

 large, pink-centred, white flowers, delicately fragrant, 



