( 6g ) 



CHAPTER IV. 



NOTES ON THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF MADAGASCAR. 



FOREST SCENERY — VALUABLE WOODS — COAST VEGETATION — PANDANUS — TAN- 

 GENA POISON-TREE — PALMS — BARK CLOTH — BAMBOOS : THEIR APPLICA- 

 TIONS — BAOBAB — MOSSES, CREEPERS, AND LIANAS — FERNS — BEAUTIFUL- 

 LEAVED PLANTS — PITCHER PLANTS — VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR — SPINY 

 AND PRICKLY PLANTS — GRASSES — REEDS AND RUSHES — VEGETABLE FOODS 

 — RICE AND ITS CULTURE — ROOTS — ARUMS — COFFEE — SUGAR — SPICES — 

 FRUITS — BANANAS — TRAVELLER'S TREE — MEDICINAL PLANTS — GOURDS — 

 TOBACCO — HEMP AND COTTON — DYES — LICHENS — FLOWERING PLANTS AND 

 TREES — ORCHIDS — GUMS — INDIA-B.UBBER — LACE-LEAF PLANT. 



In the preceding chapter on the animal life of Madagascar, 

 it "was premised that the writer made no pretensions to exact 

 scientific knowledge of zoology. So also the present notes 

 upon the vegetable productions of the island must be pre- 

 faced by saying that I know still less of scientific botany, 

 being but imperfectly acquainted even with much of the 

 nomenclature of the science. All I can here attempt is to 

 describe in a very familiar and unsystematic way some of 

 those more prominent features in the flora of Madagascar 

 which would strike any intelligent traveller in passing through 

 the country ; to note how largely the vegetable productions 

 of the island are connected with the civilisation and handi- 

 crafts of the inhabitants ; and to say something about a few 

 of those remarkable trees and plants which are acknowledged 

 by botanists to be among the most curious and interesting of 

 nature's productions. 



The main features of the physical geography of Madagascar 

 will be remembered by those who have read the first chapters of 

 this book, viz., the interior highlands of granitic rocks and 

 red clay, the secondary coast plains, and the almost unbroken 

 ring of forest surrounding the island. As already pointed 

 out, these geographical features have necessarily a very great 



