CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 457 



commonly known now in Italy by the name of Spina Christi." * 

 A large tree, that takes its name from the great pods it bears, 

 containing a thick, sweet, glutinous pulp : as met with here, a 

 shrub in no respect ornamental but for its rather pretty small 

 foliage ; but this it loses for a long time during the Cold 

 season ; bears inconspicuous greenish flowers ; for its formidable 

 thorns better adapted for a hedge than for the decoration of the 

 garden. 



M I M S E JE. 

 Desmanthus. 



D. punctatus. A small shrub ; native of Brazil, of prostrate 

 growth, and very sprawling, remarkable for the extreme sensi- 

 tiveness of its pinnate foliage ; pretty when in blossom, with its 

 tassel-like rose-coloured flowers of the size of a bullet ; yields 

 seed plentifully; except in not being an aquatic, resembles in 

 every respect D. natans; such at least is the description of 

 plants raised from seed sent me from the Calcutta Botanical 

 Gardens, but I have doubts as to the accuracy of the name. 



Mimosa. 



1. M. pudica. SENSITIVE-PLANT Chooee-mooee. Native of 

 the West Indies. Very similar in every respect to the pre- 

 ceding, except that it is much smaller, and of more slender 

 habit ; a very common plant, but a very pretty and desirable 

 one ; nearly always in blossom : seeds abundantly. 



2. M. sensitiva. The true Sensitive-plant, though in fact 

 not so sensitive as the foregoing, is altogether different in the 

 character of its foliage; mentioned in Dr. Voigt's Catalogue, 

 but it does not exist in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens now, 

 nor have I ever met with it in this country ; like the last it is a 

 native of tropical America. 



3. M. brevipenna. A small shrub, of erect growth, ornamental 

 for its exquisitely delicate and beautiful pinnate foliage of 

 minute leaflets ; requires to be well cut in to keep it bushy, 

 otherwise it is disposed to grow with long, bare, unsightly 

 stems ; but very slightly sensitive. 



* 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' April 12, 1862, 



