THE MYRTLE TRIBE. 213 



" Then I suppose this is a tribe of poisonous 

 plants," said Kobert. 



" Not so : the roots of several are eaten, and 

 the fruit of some of the fuschias is tolerably 

 palatable ; a few have acrid and emetic properties, 

 but the Nightshades are comparatively harmless ; 

 their ill-repute chiefly arising from their bearing 

 the same name with the Deadly Nightshade, 

 which belongs to the same tribe as the potato. 

 The Myrtle tribe consists of plants having a fra- 

 grant and aromatic quality, very powerful in 

 cloves, which are the dried flower-buds of a plant 

 of the myrtle kind, and almost equally so in all- 

 spice, the dried fruit of another. To this tribe we 

 also owe the delicious preserve called guava jelly, 

 made from the pulpy fruit of the guava ; also 

 various valuable gums and aromatic oils. The 

 gum-trees of Australia are of this tribe, and they 

 are not a little remarkable." 



" How so, papa ?" said Henry. 



" From their peculiar growth ; for it appears 

 that they rise to the height of 100 or 150 feet 

 before they send out any branches, and are then 

 crowded with beautiful willow-like foliage. Grow- 

 ing near each other, they look like an assemblage of 



