Fan Palms and Pond Flowers. .") 



leaves so sharply but picturesquely notched. The leaflets Mall well bear 

 examination. It is to Ceylon anrl India we owe this beautiful stranger. 



What too can be more lovely than the fan-shaped leaves of the 

 Licuala grandis when they escape the rude treatment of the wind and 

 remain unscathed ! 



The well-armed Martinezia, bristling with spines both on trunk and 

 leaf-stalks, is as vigorous as a palm belonging to tropical America should 

 be. but for all its armed appearance its handsome pinnate leaves with 

 their jagged ends invite us to approach. 



Though we should like to see more of our own beautiful palms grow- 

 ing in these gardens, we yet can boast of some. The familiar Manicole 

 (Euterpe (dulls) is so well-known to most of us that we are apt to pass 

 over its beauty aud grace. These clumps are moisture-loving and those 

 responsible for the Garden should be proud of having kept them fresh and 

 vigorous throughout the terrible drought we have just recently experi- 

 enced. 



We all know how useful the Manicole palm is to the Indians and 

 sojourners in the interior. The stems are commonly used as floors or 

 split to make palings aud so forth, whilst the " heart " or terminal bud 

 can furnish an appetising dish. 



The single, solitary Euterpe stenophylla, the Rayhoo of the Arawaks, 

 is very much like the Manicole, but is never found growing in clumps. 

 It possesses a delicate lady-like air that places it in the first rank of our 

 native palms, renowned for grace and beauty. We should like to see 

 more of them planted here, and as these gardens are fairly well-drained 

 they should thrive even better than the manicole. for unlike its sister it 

 does not appear to appreciate swampy land. 



We cannot fail to be impressed with that noble genus of the palm 

 family, the Maximiliana, which is renowned for its stately glory through- 

 out the botanical world. Nor must we tear ourselves away from these 

 beautiful pictures without a word concerning the light green stems and 

 the brilliant red-stained sheaths of the Crytostachys rendu, which like 

 most palms, calls aloud for the painter's brush and skill, even as the 

 specimen of Corypha data may set free the poet's tongue with its 

 imposing majesty, when it shall have reached maturity and sent forth its 

 marvellous flowering spike. 



One can never tire of the palms displayed in this small area ; we 

 have mentioned a few but there are many others of equal interest and 

 beauty. 



During the drought the display made by the well-known euphor- 

 biaeeous shrubs. Poinsett ia, with their bright red bracts formed a 

 grateful colouring when the eye was weary of the listlessness and dulness 

 Nature was forced to assume. In sharp contrast to the Poinsettias were 



