CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 503 



plant, with narrow linear leaves about five inches long; a 

 common weed of this country, delighting most in swampy 

 ground by the side of rivers ; bears pretty little saucer-formed 

 flowers of the size of an eight-anna piece, white without and 

 rose-coloured and purple- veined within ; troublesome to eradicate 

 sometimes when once established in the garden. 



Gomphocarpus. 



G. fruticosus. A very graceful and ornamental small bushy 

 shrub about three feet high, with small linear leaves ; very hand- 

 some when in blossom in July with its prettily-drooping large 

 umbels of pure-white flowers, displayed in great profusion. It 

 bears a very curious bladder-like seed-pod of the size of a small 

 hen's egg, covered with blunt thorns. 



Asclepias. 



SWALLOW-WORT. 



1. A. Curassavica BED HEAD BLOOD FLOWER BASTARD 

 IPECACUANHA JAMAICA WILD LIQUORICE. An herbaceous 

 plant about two feet high, with lanceolate, rather downy leaves 

 two or three inches long ; very showy when in blossom in the 

 Cold season, with its erect umbels of orange-and-yellow ; 

 moderate-sized flowers ; bears in great abundance its seed in large 

 curious, inflated pods, from which it is best to renew plants 

 annually, throwing the old ones away. 



When young the plants are very liable to be devoured by a 

 particular kind of caterpillar that preys upon them. This should 

 be searched for and destroyed. And when old the plants often 

 become infested by a reddish-looking aphis or blight-fly, and 

 have then a very unsightly appearance. 



2. A. Mexicana. A simple little unpretending herbaceous 

 plant, about two feet high, with slender stems, naked till near the 

 summit, where it bears decussate, very narrow linear leaves an 

 inch and a half long. In blossom constantly through the Hot 

 and Rain seasons with umbels of pretty, but not very showy 

 small white flowers. Eaised in my garden from seed from 

 England. 



3. A. arborescens. A small herbaceous shrub, bearing hand- 

 some umbels of pure-white Hoya-like flowers. This I have had 



