146 STINGING PLANTS 



if indeed they can be called such ; the fruit, which is about as 

 large as a pear, turns yellow when ripe and is not unpalatable, 

 being something like an unripe gooseberry ; but it is exceedingly 

 difficult to get it peeled without being hurt by its hair-like 

 needles. The large spines are the ordinary Malagasy pins, and 

 are very useful for this purpose. 



Another very noticeable plant is the Songosongo, a species of 

 Euphorbia, with spiny stems and brilliant scarlet flowers. This 

 is planted on the top of the low earthen banks which form 

 the boundaries between private properties and the roads ; but 

 it is not nearly such a formidable defence as the prickly pear. 

 A very common variety of this plant has pale yellow flowers. 



Another prickly plant is the Mysore thorn, or Tsiajakbmby 

 (lit. " impassable by cattle "), which is largely used for fences 

 and stockades. From its numerous hook-like thorns, it also 

 is not a plant which can be easily passed through, when growing 

 thickly. It has a large spike of yellow flowers. 



Another plant or shrub, which grows to the size of a tree, is 

 not prickly, but stinging. This is the Amiana (Urera radula). 

 The large velvety leaves sting like those of a nettle ; they are, 

 however, of beautiful and complicated outline, and I have 

 pressed specimens taken from young plants which are as much 

 as two feet across, and which would be admirable patterns for 

 ornamentation. The wood is very soft and, when on fire, 

 smoulders for a long time. The trunk, which is tall and straight, 

 in some specimens is nearly two feet in diameter. Some five 

 different species have been described. 



Another stinging plant, the Agy, with fine needle-like hairs, 

 which fall in showers and produce fearful irritation, is described 

 in a subsequent chapter. Many trees in the forest are armed 

 with blunt prickles, which injure the hand if they are touched 

 when making one's way through the dense vegetation. In the 

 extreme south of the island there are trees or shrubs called 

 Fdntsi-olotra (" nail-edged " ?), probably a species of Didierea, 

 whose thorny stems, always turned towards the south, are said 

 to resemble a barricade of elephants' trunks ; the stem, which 

 is as big as a man's thigh, is entirely covered with large thorns, 

 between which grow the small round leaves. On one of these 

 thorny trees, however, M. Lemaire found a white lemur 

 (Propiihecus verrauzii) clinging, which, when dislodged, went 



