4 Timehri. 



These clumps with their fan-shaped leaves are most conspicuous, but 

 their noble beauty to be appreciated should be seen on a moonlit night, 

 when all these gardens are bathed in a witching light that makes them 

 look indeed like fairyland. Nearby the lake are clumps of Raphia 

 flabelliformis, a genus of palms which is very limited as to the number 

 of species, and which locally is dear to the heart of our native boys from 

 the short walking-stick stems they furnish, while one's attention must be 

 arrested by a small clump of native Bamboo grass or rather Guadua, fine 

 specimens of which are to be seen at Cabacaburi where they were planted 

 by Archdeacon Heard, who, we believe, brought them from the Waini 

 river. They start from the base with a fair girth gradually tapering to a 

 point, and are grey-ringed at the joints and are armed with a terrible 

 array of thorns. Around are picturesquely displayed such palms as 

 Cocos plumosus, Areca catechu, the betel-nut of the Hindu, Livistona 

 australis, all possessing beauty and grace of their own. 



The handsome Areca catechu is often cultivated for the sake of its 

 fruit, pieces of which are rolled, with a little temper-lime and other in- 

 gredients in a " pan " leaf, and are then chewed by our East Indian 

 fellow-subjects — whose red-stained mouths and saliva owe their vivid hue 

 to thi^ habit of masticating their beloved betel-nut. 



The Colony House grounds were ceded by the Public Works Depart- 

 ment to the Botanic Gardens in 1906, the responsibility for planting 

 which devolved on the Head Gardener of the Botanic Station. For the 

 most part the laying out has been well done, but we cannot congratu- 

 late bhe individual who planted the area facing the Esplanade Here 

 several huge and beautifully shaped Sand-box trees (Hara crepitans) 

 make an imposing and majestic show to the entry of Colony House, and at 

 the same time fulfil the prosaic purpose of sheltering many from the robust 

 kisses of Phoebus. Unfortunately the ground beneath these trees has been 

 thickly planted; amongst others there being Ghrysalidocarpus lutescens, 

 the sugar-cane palm, and a Clusia whose glossy-green leaves, polished 

 always to a state of brightness, cannot fail to attract attention. But 

 two Livistonas have already reared their heads amidst the branches of 

 the sandbox trees. Shut out from the light and air. theirs must be a 

 cruel lot. Indeed this small portion of ground is the one blot on what 

 otherwise is a perfect picture. 



Near what used to be a public entrance before the Colony grounds 

 were taken over, are two stately Pritchardia pacifica palms. The stiff 

 fan-shaped leaves arc o\' a fine green colour, the young leaves being coated 

 with a delicate, soft, downy substance. The black cherry-like fruit is 

 also pretty, whilst the 'lead grey leaves, clasping the spineless stem of 

 their parent as if loathe to leave her, add to the beauty of one of the 

 finest palms in the gardens. 



As we wander in we cannot fail to admire the specimen of that ele- 

 gant palm, known botanically as Caryota urens, with its strange pinnate 



