433 



the Honey berry, and certainly has a sweet taste, but is too small to 

 be worth eating. 



Anacardiace^e 



This order contains the Mangos, and a few other eatable fruits. 



The common Mango, Mangifera indica, is often cultivated here 

 and occurs in almost every village, but for a variety of reasons the 

 fruit when produced is almost uneatable. The tree is a native of 

 India and it is probable that the wetness of our climate does not 

 suit it at all. The best Mangoes imported into the straits are those 

 of Siam and the Philippines, but fairly good Mangoes are grown in 

 Malacca. 



In the Peninsula the tree is attacked by a large variety of insect 

 pests, ;he worst of which is a boring caterpillar, which burrows up 

 the stem of young trees and the branches and destroys them. The 

 perfect insect is a large moth, but it has not yet been identified. 



Another caterpillar attacks the leaves covering them with a web 

 full of debris of leaves and frass. 



The Mango weevil, Cryptorhynchus Mangtferce, which bores into 

 the fruit and destroys it also occurs in Singapore and is often seen 

 too in imported Mangos. Notwithstanding all these pests Mango 

 trees of large size may be seen in various parts of the Peninsula, 

 but I have never seen really good fruit on them. 



For those who wish to grow Mangos, it is better to isolate the 

 trees from each other but to mix them with other trees allowing 

 them top light but partly shading them with other trees, Mangos 

 grown in the open and quite exposed, are generally killed by the 

 borer as soon as they are big enough for it to attack. 



There are a number of native Mangos, which are cultivated or 

 half wild all over the Peninsula and which are more or less popular 

 among the natives. Most of them are very large often gigantic 

 trees with green fruit with a coarse flavour and firmer texture than 

 that of the t ommon Mango. The commonest of these is the Bachang, 

 M . foetida, the fruit of which is dull green, and about as large as 

 an ordinary Mango but less flattened. The flesh is firm and though 

 sweet has an objectionable scent and flavour. It is eaten in cur- 

 ries, and also raw. Some varieties of it are quite palatable. It is 

 grown from seed and is rather slow in growth, but will fruit when 

 only twenty feet tall. 



The Binjai, M. ccesia, is a remarkably handsome tree when 

 covered with its masses of pinkish white flowers. The fruit some- 

 what resembles that of the Bachang but is longer and white. Its 

 flesh is juicy but acid and white with an unpleasant odour. A 

 variety Binjai manis with sweet juice and a light brown skin 

 occurs in Singapore. 



^ The Lanjut, M . lagenifera, is a very large tree with compara- 

 tively small leaves and a green fruit pear-shaped, 4 or 5 inches 

 long. It is very fibrous and coarse flavoured and hardlv even 

 popular among natives. 



The Kohini, Mangifera odor at a, is a large tree with pink and 



