230 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



paradise flower, named from its resemblance to the plume 

 of the bird; tuitui or candle-nut tree from the Society 

 Islands, the nut being used by the natives for lighting 

 their huts; the coffee plant, and several varieties of cacti. 

 "The West wing, temperature the same as the East 

 wing, the plants of China, Japan, East and West Indies, 

 and Mexico, 

 are assigned. 

 The most no- 

 table plants 

 here are the 

 Cycadcceac of 

 the East Indies 

 (the largest in 

 the country) ; 

 the four-cen- 

 tury plant ; the 

 Camellia jap- 

 onica or Japan 

 Rose ; the love- 

 ly lily of Cuba ; 

 the historic 

 Papyrus anti- 

 qHorum or pa- 

 per plant of 

 Egypt ; the tal- 

 low and leechee 

 trees of China ; 

 the guava, a 

 delightful fruit 

 of the West 

 Indies ; the va- 

 nilla of Mexico 

 the species 

 w h i c h fur- 

 nishes the aro- 

 matic bean; 

 the black pep- 

 per from the 

 East Indies ; 

 the sugar cane, 

 the Cherimoy- 

 er or custard 

 apple; the cas- 

 siva of the 

 West Indies ; 

 the sensitive 

 and humble 

 ])lants ; the 

 .American aloe 

 or century 

 ])lant of Mex- 

 ico ; the cam- 

 phor trees 

 from Japan; tin- tea plant; llie papaya ur oriental tree 

 wliiili has the j^roperty of rendering the toughest meat 

 endiM ; a ])lant of .Idaiisonia dicjitata or monkey bread, 

 which i;ic)\\s on the banks of the Senegal and reaches 

 '''(' f-nurninus circumference of one hundred feet. Thev 



CH.^NDELIER AND MOTHER-IN-LAW PLANTS IN FULL BLOOM 



l"ig. S). These are very hand.some .specimens ; 

 them, where hundreds of plants thrive in a te 

 to imaRine that one is in a tro])ical jungle. 



are supposed to attain the age of three thousand years. 

 and have many uses. Humboldt pronounces them the 

 oldest organic monuments of our planet. 



"There is also a specimen of the Carob tree of Pales- 

 tine, sometimes called St. John's bread. The i)ulp around 

 the seed is supposed to have been the wild honey upon 



which St. John 

 fed in the wil- 

 derness. * * 

 There are two 

 smaller con- 

 servatories de- 

 voted entire!) 

 to cacti and or- 

 chids. The bot- 

 anical collec- 

 tion received 

 some valuable 

 contribut ions 

 from the ex- 

 p e d i t i o n of 

 C o m m o - 

 dore Perry to 

 Japan. The 

 supply is kei)t 

 up by propaga- 

 tion, and at 

 rare intervals 

 by scientific or 

 exploring ex- 

 peditions o f 

 the United 

 States." 



No apology 

 is necessary for 

 the somewhat 

 lengthy quota- 

 tion just given, 

 as nothing 

 could have 

 been gained h\ 

 simply para- 

 phrasing it. As 

 it stands, it fur 

 nishes the very 

 sort of infor- 

 mation that 

 students of 

 trees and flow- 

 ers really re- 

 quire. So little 

 is known, in 

 this country 

 and abroad, 

 about our great United .States Hotanic Garden-^espe- 

 cially as to what plants and trees may be seen and studied 

 there^that I feel that the above list of them will be full\ 

 appreciated by all who are interested in foreign and na- 

 tive trees and plants. A plan is now on foot to 



and, as one passes into the interior beyond 

 niperature of 80 degrees F., it is not difficult 



