THE GUAVA. 



71 



honoured bv the Eg-\-ptians and described b^' Theophrastus, 

 was ilfiiiuisops Schimperi. This stateh' tree, witli its 

 oblong, leathery, long-stalked leaves is nearly related to 

 the Ebony. These leaves were 

 folded together and woven into '-0, 

 wreaths and garlands for the \ 

 dead. And the^' are still found 

 today, often combined with the 

 petals of the blue Lotus , ■Sth'^'i 

 ( jVvniphaca coeriilea), on 

 mummies whom they decked 

 when laid to rest iifteen hun- 

 dred years before our era. Tlie\' sym- 

 bolised the ''Garland of Justification" 

 which the wandering soul receixed on 



tree has now vanished from Egypt, but 

 it grows in Ab}'ssinia and the 

 neighbouring countries. — Anoth- 

 er tropical fruit tree of which 

 one may obtain a good 

 idea in the Alortola Gardens, ^^ 

 is the Psidiuiii which bears 

 the ( Tua^'a. The 

 Psidiuiu, which 

 belongs to the M\"rtaceae, is 

 culti^'ated in all tropical lands 



where in some wax's it takes the place \% of our Goo- 

 seberry bush ; it is very fruitful and is y% easily pro- 

 pagated. The plants of tliis genus grow \% into bushes 



