417 



1905, and put away in a drawer for a year and in September, 1906, 

 were found to have germinated and produced a perfectly healthy 

 green shoot. 



Few of the other species of the genus have set seeds, even the 

 pasture land C. defixum seems to fruit very seldom. C. northianutn, 

 a tidal mud species from Sarawak fruits successfully, but none of 

 the other species have ever set fruit. 



The tidal mud climber, Tristellateia australasica, is cultivated in 

 all gardens, and flowers and fruits easily. Though never seen wild 

 except in salt mud, it is a much more free flowerer in the dry clay 

 soil of the gardens. It grows readily from seed but has never 



Casuarina equisetifolia is a sea-shore tree which has the peculiar 

 habit of growing in a single line on sandy beaches just above the 

 . loose sand where the ground is firmer. It is not uncommon to see 

 a line of these trees some distance from the sea where the sea has 

 receded, the line of trees marking out the former edge of the sea 

 beach. Planted inland in swampy ground it grows to a fair size, 

 but usually never flowers. In drier soil it often flowers and fruits 

 profusely but does not spread of itself. 



C. sumatrana which inhabits rocky and sandy spots close to the 

 sea and tidal river in Borneo grows well in the stiff clay of the 

 Botanic Gardens, fruiting regularly, but quite old trees have still 

 retained the cone-shaped form of the young plant and show no 

 signs of taking on the characteristic adult form resembling a Scotch 

 Fir with a tall straight stem and small rounded crown. 



Flagellaria indica is a sea-shore plant, which grows very strongly 

 and rapidly in the gardens especially however in damp spots by 

 the lake. It flowers and fruits abundantly and has spread itselt 

 to some distance across the gardens. 



Acrostichum aureum, typically a tidal mud fern, when isolated 

 by the silting up of the tidal river by which it grows, remains tor 

 a long time, but does not apparently spread. A large clump grows 

 in the Economic Gardens, on ground formerly a tidal river bed, 

 as Ni pa fruits have been found in it, but there is nothing to show 

 that there has been a tidal river here since the founding ol 

 Singapore. It shows no sign of spreading. 



I have also seen Pluchea indica, a tidal mud plant far inland and 

 far away from any river in Tanglin, but it has not spread and I 

 have failed to cultivate it at Tanglin. 



These tidal mud plants often persist long after the locality has 

 ceased to be near a river or the sea, but they fail to propagate 

 themselves. 



Most of our mountain plants fail to accommodate themselves to 



Cupnssiuus, although never seen below 2,000 feet' eltva t on ^ 

 very well in the Botanic Gardens. The hrst has flowered more 



