138 PLANTS IN THE HOTEL GARDEN. 



Sun -birds, (JCectariiiia), hover round these plants to 

 suck the hone^' and thus effect poUination. This fact 

 adds interest to the plant, as flowers pollinated by birds 

 are rare. The thick flesh\' stems and leaves of the 

 South- African ]^lesembr^■anthemum "(Af. acinaciforme) 

 hang over the terraces and open their large, brilliant, 

 red flowers in the sunshine. Side b)' side with these 

 grows the "\'ellow-flowered species, M. edule, which has 

 somewhat smaller leaves and flowers. The flesh\' fruits 

 of these plants are eaten in their native conntr\- as 

 "Hottentot's Figs". The Hottentots are said to preserve 

 the juic^' leaves in vinegar like Gherkins. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of the house the 

 garden is carefulh' kept, but the outhing part is more 

 or less left to itself. Here a curious struggle for space, 

 light and subsistence takes place between plants of all 

 latitudes brought together hx chance. The Australian 

 Casuarinas are crowded \>\ the Anierican Pepper-tree : 

 the Japanese Pittosporum competes with the Mediter- 

 ranean Tamarisk. The indigenous shrubs have here and 

 there to gi^■e ^va\' to the Australian Acacias and Euca- 

 lypti, the African, }-ellow-flowered, shrubb\' Medic 

 (iM. arhorca) and the strongh'-armed Genistas {G. fcrox). 

 But amongst all these the Alejjpo Pine (Pi/ius Iiale- 

 peiisis), with delicate needles, and the Maritime Pine 

 (Piiiiis Pinaster ) with more rigid leaves, assert themselves 

 and form a transition to the Maquis. 



These two Pines, met \\ith everywhere on the 

 Riviera, ma)' also be distinguished b^■ their cones: for 

 those of the Aleppo are smaller and Jess substantial than 



