91 



In India, gardeners bury a porous jar like a water monkey unglazed. 

 They are filled as soon as empty, and a plug on the neck serves to 

 keep out insects and dirt If gardeners would try this plan they would 

 save many a plant which would die under the ordinary hose treat- 

 ment. — Queensland Agricultural Journal. 



ELEMENTARY NOTES ON JAMAICAPLANTS.— IV. 



COM ME LIN A NUDI FLORA. 



Water Grass. 



In damp shady places we come across a creeping plant with grass- 

 like leaves and petals of the purest blue. We gather it for examina- 

 tion ; but, alas, the petals drop off almost immediately, — they are of 

 very delicate texture, semi-circular in shape and with a colourless 

 stalk. The sepals are eoloarless. Of the six stamens, three have 

 anthers which are at flr^t loaded with pollen, but as soon as they open, 

 releasing the pollen, they begin to curl up The other three anthers 

 have no pollen, but are conspicious each one a golden cross. 



The flowers as they open one by one, push their way in succession 

 out of a small leaf, the spathe, doubled on itself length wise ; in it the 

 young buds are protected and kept moist. The upper flowers have 

 anthers only, and soon fall ; but in the others when the petals fall, 

 the flower-stalk bends down and hides the young seed-vessel. 



The seed-vessel has 3 divisions, one of which is rough with little 

 warts, the other two are smooth. The 5 seeds are netted. 



Notice how the young flowering shoot comes out between the stalk 

 bearing the seed-vessels and the leaf- 



A sister-plant ( Commelina virginica) has the spathe joined together 

 at the base to form a kind of cup. 



The " Wandering Jew" (Ztbrina pendula) is a pretty plant with 

 purplish -mauve flowers, climbing or hanging on stone walls and such 

 places all over the island, — becoming in some districts a troublesome 

 weed. The leaves are coloured purple below with greyish stripes above. 

 The spathes here again are som what like the leaves, they grow two 

 together on a terminal stalk, bearing several flowers within. The 

 stamens, which are attached at the throat of the corolla tube, have 

 peculiar anthers with a broad connective separating the pollen cells. 



The " Oyster Plant," as it has been called, (Rhoeo discolor), grows in 

 rocky places, with stiff straight narrow leaves, purplish underneath, 8 

 to 12 inches long. The name is given on account of the 2 spathes 

 enclosing the flowers, — they are boatlike and overlap, bearing a fanci- 

 ful resemblance to an Oyster-shell. 



The flowers have white sepals and petals, and triangular anthers 

 with pollen at two edges. The flower-stalk of the bud is short, so th it the 

 buds are protected and kept moist within the spjthes. As the buds 

 grow, the stalk lengthens, so that the flower opens outside the spathe. 

 When the flower is over, the stalk gradually bends down again, bring- 

 ing the young seed-vessel within the spathes to ripen. 



" Spider Wort" (Tradescantia) belongs to the same family, but the 

 flowers are not enclosed within spathes. 



