202 GARDEN PLANTS. TART IT. 



what scarce in India some time ago, for Dr. Gibson says of it : 

 " The Gardens at Parell and at Dapooree can boast of the Blighia 

 sapida of New Zealand, now producing fruit (at least at Dapooree) 

 annually." * At Calcutta it comes into blossom in June and 

 ripens its fruit in October. 



In the public gardens at Madras are small trees about ten 

 faet high, which, when I saw them in the month of September, 

 looked remarkably ornamental, covered with their scarlet fruit, 

 contrasting beautifully with the fine rich foliage amongst which 

 it hung. As far as I could learn by inquiry, the fruit was never 

 eaten by any one there. 



Nephelium lichi. 



LICHEE. 



A large-growing shrub or small tree, of dense handsome foliage, 

 native of China. It blossoms about the middle of February with 

 sprays of small pale-green flowers, and ripens its large bunches 

 of fruit about the end of April or beginning of May. The fruit 

 is of the size and form of a large Plum, with a rough, thin, 

 scale-like rind, which while the fruit is hanging ripe upon the 

 tree is of a beautiful red tinge, but gradually becomes of a dull 

 brown colour a short time after gathered. The pulp of the 

 fruit, which is as delicious perhaps as that of any fruit in exist- 

 ence, resembles the white of a plover's egg, and contains in its 

 centre a stone. In the best fruit the stone is very small compa- 

 ratively ; and in this respect the fruit produced on different trees 

 varies much. 



It is stated that there is only one province in China where the 

 Lichee is grown to perfection. In the gardens, however, about 

 Calcutta, and at Chinsurah in particular, fruit of the finest 

 quality imaginable may be met with. That produced on the 

 trees in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens is of a very inferior 

 description, the pulp being scanty in quality and acid in flavour : 

 fruit of a similar kind likewise is usually sold in the Calcutta 

 bazars, probably the produce of trees formerly distributed from 

 the Botanic Gardens. 



I have tasted the variously-named kinds in the Gardens of the 

 Agri-Horticultural Society, from which plants are propagated 

 for distribution ; and in my opinion the sort called M'Lean's is 



* Dr. Spry, ' Hants for India,' p. 62. 



