CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 449 



2. V. Capensis. A tree of some size ; bears in boundless pro- 

 fusion pale-purple and white flowers, emitting a most delightful 

 fragrance ; thrives well in the Nilgherries, where it is perpetually 

 in blossom. Dr. Voigt says that it has been cultivated near 

 Calcutta, but without success. 



Castanospermum. 



C, Australe MORETON BAY CHESTNUT. An Australian tree of 

 considerable size ; thrives well in the Bangalore Public Gardens, 

 where in March it produces its large crimson, beautiful flowers. 

 Small plants of it only are to be met with about Calcutta, 

 although it is many years since it was first introduced. 



OESALPINE^E. 



Haematoxylon. 



H. Campechianum LOGWOOD. A slender tree about ten feet 

 in height, with small shining leaves, and of very light and 

 elegant growth. Flowers small, yellow, borne in vast profusion 

 in February in small catkin-like racemes, very fragrant and 

 beautiful. Mr. Gosse observes : " The likeness of this tree to 

 the Hawthorn of Europe is very striking, and has been noticed 

 by many. A stranger might infallibly mistake it for that 

 familiar tree." * 



Parkinsonia. 



P. aculeata JERUSALEM THORN. A tree-like shrub from 

 fifteen to twenty feet high, remarkable for the clear, vivid, 

 polished green of its trunk and stems, with pinnate foliage of 

 minute leaflets ; nearly always in blossom with racemes of small 

 yellow flowers. Don considers it " a most elegant shrub when 

 in flower ;" but in this country, where it is so common, few 

 possibly will entertain the same high opinion of it. In the 

 North- West of India, on account of its rapid growth, as well as 

 for its formidable thorns, which render it perfectly impenetrable, 

 it is often employed for hedges. It is, however, regarded as 

 very baneful to other plants growing near it. Propagated from 

 seed. 



* ' Sojourn in Jamaica,' p. 370, 



2 G 



