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DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



and with the myrtle and orange was one of our first green- 

 house plants. It is highly ornamental, and has very fragrant 

 flowers. It grows abundantly in the valley of the Jordan, 

 and when in flower is very beautiful. The whole of the 

 plant is poisonous, and it is recorded that soldiers in Spain 

 Avere poisoned through their meat being roasted on spits made 

 of the peeled stem. Nerium^ or, as now called, Adenium obe- 

 sium, is a remarkable gouty stemmed almost leafless plant, 

 growing on dry rocks at Aden, Small plants about 2 feet 

 high were received at Kew which had a resemblance to Cham- 

 pagne bottles, 



Adenium Namaquanum. A native of Namaqualand in 

 South Africa. It is a singular plant having an erect stem 

 about 6 inches in diameter, slightly tapering up to the height 

 of 5 "or 6 feet, bearing on its apex a tuft of obovate leaves 

 4 to 5 inches in length, and a few bunches of small purple 

 flowers. The stem is covered with tubercles, each tubercle 

 furnished with two spreading horny spines. 



Ordeal Tree of Madagascar {Tanghinia veneniferd) . A soft- 

 wooded tree, with stiff" branches and elliptical lanceolate 

 leaves, 4 or 5 inches in length, generally in tufts at the apex 

 of the branches, and leaving a prominent mark or scar on 

 falling away. It has pretty whitish-pink flowers, and pro- 

 duces a fleshy fibrous drupe, about the size of a magnum 

 bonum plum, containing a hard stone seed, the kernel of 

 which is highly poisonous. In Madagascar, persons suspected 

 of crime are made to swallow a small portion of the kernel, 

 and if they die from its effects, are supposed to be guilty. 

 It is said to produce death in twenty minutes. Condemned 

 criminals are also put to death by simply being pricked with 

 a lance dipped in the juice of the kernel. 



Wheel-tree or Paddle- wood {Aspidosperma excelsum). A 

 large tree, native of Guiana, and is remarkable in having the 

 stem regularly fluted, often giving the appearance of several 

 small trees stuck to a large one, which are cut aAvay and 

 used by the natives as paddles. It is sometimes 4 or 5 feet 

 in diameter, and when cut transversely the section has the 



