43i 



long ago distributed over the tropical gardens of the colonies seems 

 never to have been popular, although when first introduced there 

 was a suggestion that it might eventually be used for making wine. 



V. polythyrsa, Miq. Is rather a handsome climber with good 

 sized clusters of quite large grapes, purple black and quite eatable 

 but the pulp of the fruit is rather firm and it is less juicy than that 

 of the English grape. It has barely a trace of the irritating spicules. 

 I have met with it in Parian^ and Perak, bearing clusters 6 inches 

 long and more, but a plant cultivated in the Botanic Gardens 

 though growing freely over the trellis, flowers but little and pro- 

 duces very few grapes. 



It is raised from seed, and grown on a bamboo trellis. 



Another wild grape with yellow fruit as large as a cherry, and 

 quite eatable is Vitis Lawsoni. It is a powerful climber with very 

 short corymbs of flowers so that the clusters are very small. 



Sapindace^e. 



This order contains the genus Nephelium, which includes the 

 well known fruits Rambutan, Pulasan and Litchi. 



The Rambutan, Nephelium lappaceum, is a medium sized tree 

 with large panicles of small green flowers, sometimes uninsexual so 

 that one often finds trees which never produce any fruit, the flowers 

 being male. It flowers in May and fruiting in August. The fruit 

 is produced often in enormous abundance so heavily do the trees 

 crop that on some years the supply is far in excess of the demand 

 and much fruit is wasted. 



There are a considerable number of varieties of the fruits. The 

 most conspicuous differences being in the two colourings yellow 

 or crimson. The yellow varieties seem to me inferior to the red 

 ones as much in taste as in beauty. A red rambutan tree in fruit, is 

 probably the most beautiful fruit tree in the World. There is a 

 great difference also in the flavour, the fruit of some trees being ■ 

 acid, while others are quite sweet and delicately flavoured, and 

 again in the amount of flesh on the stone. In some forms the flesh 

 easily comes off, while in others it is difficult to separate it. 



The fruit is usually eaten raw but is excellent when stewed, 

 either as pie or with cream or it can be made into preserves, an 

 oil is extracted from the seeds. 



The Pulassan (Nephelium chryseum, Bl.) is a similar tree to the 

 Rambutan, but the leaves are grey beneath. As a rule, it is a 

 somewhat smaller tree, with rough bark. The flowers resemble 

 those of the Rambutan, and as in that species uninsexual trees are 

 not rarely to be met with. 



The fruit is larger than the Rambutan and covered with short 

 thick blunt processes instead of that long hairlike processes of 

 the Rambutan. It is of a deep purple brown, the rind is much 

 thicker and the flesh more abundant and firmer. The flavour is 

 decidedly superior to that of the Kambutan. It does not vary as 

 much as the latter fruit, and chiefly in the way in which the flesh 

 clings to the stone. In some fruits the flesh is easily detached 



