108 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



The seeds of most of them are mild and harmless. 

 In an African species * these seeds, when ripe, are 

 as large as chestnuts, and resemble almonds in 

 flavour, yielding also an abundance of oil. The 

 pulp of the same fruit is excessively bitter, and 

 produces violent headache when only applied to 

 the tongue." 



Henry thought it very odd that the seed should 

 be wholesome and the pulp poisonous, which is the 

 case with nearly all the plants of this tribe. He 

 was told that the BEGONIAS of our conservatories, 

 whose red- veined leaves are so much admired, and 

 whose whole foliage is sometimes of a deep rose 

 colour, t are not far removed from cucumbers, and 

 that some of the species have the same scrambling 

 habit. 



"Allied in many respects to cucumbers, is a 

 strange and remarkable tribe of South American 

 plants, of which we will take the PAP AW as an 

 example. This extraordinary tree has the property 

 of making the toughest animal substances tender, 

 so that newly-killed meat, when hung amongst its 

 leaves, becomes fit for cooking in a few hours." 



* Telfairia pedata. f Segonia sanguinea. 



