778 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORT SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



agreeable aromatic odour and slightly bitter taste is then sucked through a 

 tube or hombilla. The plant was purchased from the Agri-Horticultural 

 Society of India, Calcutta, in December 1897, and seems to do well here, 

 though it has not yet grown to any height on account of its being utilized for 

 propagation by layering, and has not yet flowered. 



39. SoLANUM TPwiLOBATUM, Linn. (Solanace^e) * — MotM Ringni. A scan- 

 dent, spiny undershrub, 6 to 12 feet high, native of East Indies, common in 

 hedges in the Bombay Presidency. The leaves are 3 inches by 1^ inch, 

 smooth, shining, prickly, irregularly obtusely sinuate or lobed. The flowers 

 are purple, about 1 inch in diameter, and the berry red, of the size of a 

 currant. The plant was sent in exchange from the Agri-Horticultural Society 

 of Madras, in October 1901 , and thrives well here. It has commenced flowering 

 since August last, 



40. Melaleuca leucadendeon, Linn. (Myrtace^).! Cajuput Tree, A 

 large tree, native of the Malay Islands and Australia, There are two varieties 

 of this tree, the cajuput oil of commerce being obtained from the variety 

 called minor. The trunk of the tree is covered with a thick, spongy, light- 

 brown and white bark, peeling off in layers every year. This bark is said to 

 protect the tree against conflagrations, and is used by the Australian aborigines 

 for tinder, for making shields and canoes, for covering huts, and for inscribing 

 their sacred writings upon. It is also said to be y good material for fruit 

 packing. The wood is said to be fissile, hard, close-grained, resisting the 

 attacks of white ants, and almost imperishable under ground. The leaves are 

 3 inches long, alternate, vertical, lanceolate, oblique or somewhat falcate, 

 three-nerved, and contain an aromatic oil reputed to be antiseptic, and on that 

 account the tree is considered very suitable for planting in malarial swamps in 

 tropical countries, especially at low elevations, where many of the Eucalypti 

 do not thrive. The flowers are white of the bottle-brush kind, arranged in 

 spikes 2 or 3 together interruptedly at short distances apart. The plants 

 were raised from seeds purchased from the Director, Botanical Gardens, 

 Sydney, in April 1900, and from the Curator, Southern California Acclima- 

 tising Association, in August 1901. Those raised from the former have 

 flowered this year in July to September, but have not seeded yet. 



41. Lobelia cardinalis, . . . CCampanulacBjE),! Cardinal flower, A 

 handsome herbaceous perennial from 1 to 2 feet bigh, native of North Ame- 

 rica, where it is said to be growing in boggy ground. The leaves are smooth, 

 narrow, lanceolate, toothed and tinged with red or bronze. The flowers 

 are two-lipped of a vivid scarlet colour, in one-sided terminal racemes, and 



* The generic name is the old Latin one used by Pliny, and the specific name means three- 

 lobed, probably in reference to the leaves which are, however, five-lobed. 



t The generic name from Greek, melas, black, and leukos, white, in reference to the trunk 

 being black and the branches white, in one of the species, and the specific name from leukos, 

 white, and dendron, a tree, on account of its whitish bark. 



J The genus ia named after Matthias de L'Obel, a Flemish botanist and physician to James I, 

 and the specific name from the colour of the flowers which are cardinal red. 



