SWEET FLOWERS. 175 



he can scarcely fail to feel a pang of sympathy for 

 what seems to be the complaint of gentleness in 

 distress. 



Nor is it true that our groves and fields are 

 destitute of fragrance. In spring the Oranges and 

 Limes that are planted in such profusion upon every 

 estate, both on mountain and in plain, and even 

 border the public roads, are covered with their abun- 

 dant blossom, and the air all around is loaded with 

 the richest perfume. So it is in the upland districts, 

 when the Coffee plantations are in bloom, the flower 

 of which tree is as fragrant as it is delicately beautiful. 

 In the edges and borders of woods there is a common 

 shrub called Wild Coffee ( Tetramerium odoi-atissimum), 

 nearly allied to the cultivated species botanically, as 

 it is both in beauty and fragrance. Butterflies, 

 Moths, Bees, and Flies throng around its lovely white 

 blossoms, the delicious and powerful odour from 

 which is diff'used to a great distance. 



I have observed that many flowers in Jamaica pos- 

 sess the aromatic odour so much admired in our 

 pinks and carnations, that of the Clove. The beauti- 

 ful plants called the red and the white Spanish Jas- 

 mine {Plumieria rubra and P. alba), common shrubs, 

 whose thick stems, leathery leaves, and noble spikes 

 of blossom form so striking objects in the smaller 

 woods, have this odour. I found it in the blossom 

 of a species of Pancratium, with small bulbs and 

 large oval leaves, growing on the St. Ehzabeth's 

 mountains ; the fragrance, which was very abundant, 

 I should not have been able to distinguish from that 

 of a carnation. That gorgeous flower, the Night- 



