224 botanical gazette. [ September, 



within the tropics is the castor oil bean {Ricinus communis L.) 

 which grows most vigorously in waste ground, often attain- 

 ing a height of twenty or twenty-five feet, and producing an 

 abundance of beans. " Castoria " is not to be found in the 

 drug stores notwithstanding. From their utter neglect of 

 this plant, I infer that the Paraguayans do not appreciate the 

 virtues of castor oil. Even the Guarani women, who are 

 great " herb doctors," pass the Ricinus by. 



Perhaps, however, the thing which has interested me the 

 most is a plant belonging to my own particular line of study. 

 Few naturalists of North America or Europe can boast of hav- 

 ing visited and gathered the Victoria regia in its native home, 

 but that has been the good fortune of your correspondent, 

 for it is quite common in the lagoons of the Paraguay river. 

 To my eye, however, the flowers, although gigantic, have 

 not half the loveliness and none of the delicious fragrance of 

 our aquatic queen, the Castalia odorata. Their very im- 

 mensity mars their beauty, and what is worse, in the estima- 

 tion of the collector, the lower part of the calyx and the 

 pedicel are covered with spines, which makes its collection 

 a work of some difficulty. The pads of this monstrous 

 water lily might well serve as a child's boat, for they are 

 often as much as three feet in diameter, with an erect edge 

 some two inches in height. Once, when gathering specimens, 

 I thought I would test the buoyant capacity of the leaves. 

 With much labor, I waded out into the lagoon, and, at con- 

 siderable risk of a ducking, succeeded in placing a foot 

 upon each of two adjoining leaves. They supported my 

 weight with ease, sinking a few inches only, but not suffi- 

 ciently to allow the water to run over the rims. So it is 

 entirely within bounds to say that the pads are able to bear 

 a weight of fifty pounds without difficulty. 



Cacti are not numerous in this region, though several 

 species occur. One of them is an Opuntia, similar in flower 

 to my old Nantucket friend, Opuntia vulgaris. It is here 

 called the " Tuna," or Indian fig, and grows as high as one's 

 head, with many spreading branches, and bearing an orange- 



colored fruit as large as a hen's egg. Two species of Cereus, 



with beautiful large silvery flowers, are also found. One of 



ffor- 



these, which has a thick trunk protected by many rows of 

 midable spines, is columnar, often attaining a height of twenty 

 feet or more, and sometimes splitting into several upright 

 branches, which remind you of the pictures of the old Ro- 

 man candelabra. This is occasionally used for making 



