118 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



produces, in the Mauritius, an immense pro- 

 fusion of scarlet flowers, which hang about the 

 shrubs, and render them so bright, that it has 

 obtained the name of fire-in-the-bush. The 

 scammony, the jalaji, and other medicines are 

 the produce of plants of the convolvulus tribe, 

 and the sweet potato (^Convolvoliis batata) is a 

 well-known food in tropical countries. Back- 

 house, when in the Mauritius, saw some of the 

 poor people collecting the long stems of this 

 plant, and binding them together in bundles. 

 This formed a simple net, which, when throAvn 

 into the sea, and presently drawn ashore, was 

 fuU of small fishes. The stems extended many 

 yards along the sandy coast, and produced a 

 very pretty convolvulus flower in great abun- 

 dance. 



The various kinds of nasturtium, or Indian 

 cress, make a great show in the garden. Lin- 

 nseus named the flower from tropceum, a trophy, 

 because of its helmet-like shape, and because, 

 like too many of the trojjhies of man, it wore 

 the dark red stain of blood. The round leaf, 

 too, is like a buckler. The French term the 

 flower la capucine, and the Italians, caprivola. 

 Until the year 1823, two kinds of nasturtium 

 only were known in this country. These were 

 the large and small-flowered common species ; 

 and owing to the more showy flowers of the 

 larger kind, the smaller has been little culti- 

 vated. Several varieties have, of late years, 

 been raised from seed, and one of the most 

 handsome and generally known is the dark red- 



