TROPICAL FRUITS 215 



It takes about a year to mature, becomes yellow when ripe, and is then not 

 unlike a huge corn-cob, but is soft and pulpy, deliciously aromatic, and most 

 palatable, except that it causes a pricking sensation to some palates. On the 

 whole, I think it better to look at and to smell than to eat. The plant requires 

 plenty of room for its development, a pillar or back wall in a large tropical 

 house suiting it, or the stem of a palm tree in such a structure as the palm- 

 house at Kew. It would grow equally well on the ground, but it would 

 occupy much space. I have seen it growing in summer by the side of a little 

 pool in a sunny position out-of-doors in the garden of Mr. Chamberlain at 

 Highbury, but the plant is essentially tropical. 



EUGENIA UGNI 



This is a compact little shrub, not unlike a myrtle or a box, which grows 

 freely in a greenhouse, or even in the open air in the warmer parts of this 

 country. In the garden of Colonel Tremayne at Carclew, near Falmouth, it 

 forms a hedge, and its fruits are gathered annually to be used as dessert or for 

 preserving. They are about the size of black currants, and not unlike them in 

 flavour, but are less juicy and more aromatic. They are said to make a 

 delicious drink. The plant is a native of Chili, but it is now widely distributed 

 in sub-tropical countries. It is easily propagated from seeds or cuttings. 



GUAVA 



Psidium Guava is a West Indian myrtaceous shrub or small tree, with 

 numerous branches and ovate smooth green leaves 3 inches long, bearing in 

 their axils clusters of two or three whitish flowers ^-inch in diameter. The 

 fruit is globose (variety pomiferum), or pear-shaped (variety pyriferum), and is 

 green, not unlike a little apple, with an agreeable, somewhat acid flavour. It is 

 largely grown in tropical countries for its fruits, which are eaten raw, or form 

 the well-known guava jelly. 



P. cattleianum (the Purple Guava) is a Brazilian species, with dark crimson 

 fruits, and by some is preferred to the common guava. It was first noticed by 

 Mr. William Cattley, after whom the genus Cattleya was named. He grew 

 and fruited it in his conservatory at Barnet, two crops of fruit being produced 

 by one tree in the same year. These plants are easily grown either as bushes, 

 or trained flat against a trellis. They have a tendency to grow too dense if not 

 thinned somewhat freely every year. A sunny position in an intermediate 

 house is the best position for them. An early peach-house suits them admirably. 



LOQUAT, OR JAPANESE MEDLAR 



Eriobotrya japonica is an evergreen shrub or small tree, with thick branches 

 bearing large lanceolate leathery leaves, sometimes I foot long, and terminal 

 hawthorn-like flowers, which are deliciously fragrant. The fruits are plum- 

 like, yellow, tinged with red, and they contain a larger core of stones than is 



