228 CASTOR-OIL PLANT. 



many singular small species of Coleoptera were found. 

 The Batatas edulis is met with nearly wild, and, as it 

 trails along the ground, its large, red, infundibuliform 

 flowers relieve the sterile aspect of the landscape, the 

 sombre effect of which is further enlivened by the gaudy 

 yellow petals of the Cotton plant (Gossypium herbaceum}. 

 A splendid species of Asclepias rewarded our research, 

 though it appeared to be very uncommon, and a pretty 

 little labiate flower, the Ajuga Iva, was found in consi- 

 derable numbers, which yielded, when pressed, a very 

 agreeable odour of musk, and was hence formerly named 

 Tencrium Moschatum. The Datura Tatula, though 

 originally a native of Portugal, grows wild, and is a 

 violent narcotic poison, and might be substituted for 

 Strammonium in the practice of medicine ; another 

 species, Datura Metel, with a very large and splendid 

 white corolla, is also very common. The Castor-oil plant 

 (Ricinus communis) with its glaucous spikes and prickly 

 capsules, seems to thrive here, as in most other barren 

 places in the tropics, although the oil is not valued by 

 the natives; the negro children, however, seem very 

 fond of the kernels, which are agreeable to the taste and 

 not purgative.* The Cucumis Colocynthis is a very 

 common weed in St. Jago ; the ripe fruit is as large as a 

 small orange, and in the green state is intensely bitter 

 and powerfully cathartic. 



* According to Crawford the same neglect of this useful purgative is 

 evinced throughout the Oriental Archipelago ; he says, " The Castor- 

 oil is never, I think, used medicinally by the Indian Islanders, but is 

 the principal material used in lamps." 



