62 



From the Botanic Gardens, Demerara, have been received 2 

 packets of seeds and 1 box of the fruit of Borassus flabelliformis. 



Manihot Glaziovii (Ceara Rubber) — A thick- stemmed, low tree* 

 nearly related to the Cassava. It is a native of Ceara, a Province of 

 Brazil, and produces the Scrap-rubber of commerce, about 1,000 tons 

 of which is said to be annually exported. 



Maaritia flexuosa (Moriche or JEta palm). — A magnificent palm 

 found growing abundantly on the banks of the Amazon, Rio Negro 

 and Orinoco rivers. It has a cylindical stem rising to a height of a 

 100 or 150 feet, terminated by a crown of large fan-shaped leaves, from 

 the base of which is produced a huge bunch of fruits, often measuring 

 8 to 10 feet in length, weighing 2 or 3 cwts., and containing bushels of 

 fruit. Its fruits, its farinaceous pith (sago), and its juice abounding 

 in saccharine matter, and the fibres of the petioles, furnish the natives 

 with food, wine, and thread for making cord and weaving ham- 

 mocks. 



Borassus flabelliformis (Palmyra Palm). — This is a magnificent palm, 

 widely distributed throughout the tropical parts of Asia, generally 

 growing in low sandy tracts of land near the sea-coast, and forming 

 lofty trees with straight and almost cylindical trunks from 60 to 80 or 

 even 100 feet high and about two feet in diameter. The leaves are 

 from 8 to 10 feet long including the stalk, and of a nearly circular 

 form. These leaves are employed by the natives for a variety of use- 

 ful purposes ; houses are thatched with them ; matting for floors and 

 ceilings is platted from strips of them, also bags and baskets of all 

 kinds, hats and caps, umbrellas and fans, and a host of minor articles ; 

 they likewise supply the Hindoo with paper which he writes upon with 

 a stylus. The palm produces its fruit in bunches, each fruit being 

 about three inches in diameter, with a pulpy covering, which is made 

 into a kind of jelly. It is a toddy-producing palm, a most important 

 product, and large quantities of jaggery sugar are obtained from it. 

 The seedlings are consumed as an article of food and are cultivated for 

 market, being eaten either fresh or first dried in the sun, or else they 

 are made into a very nutritious kind of meal. 



From the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, 3 packets of seeds 

 have been received. 



Messrs. Reasoner Bros., of Florida have sent 33 growing plants, 

 and 33 packets of seeds. Amongst them may be mentioned : — 



Prunus Chicasa (Chickasaw Plum). A small tree, fifteen to twenty- 

 five feet in height. The fruit, which varies greatly in quality, like that 

 of all Plum-trees, is often sold in the markets of the middle and 

 southern States, and it is eaten raw and cooked, and used for jellies 

 and preserves. 



Rubus cuneifolius (Sand Blackberry). Fruit blackish, ovate or oblong, 

 good-flavoured, ripening in August. Stems upright, armed with stout, 

 recurved prickles. Height 1 to 3 feet. Native of North America. 



Rubus flavus (Indian Raspberry). A tall sub-erect bush, with 

 stout spreading branches. Fruit globose, golden-yellow, succulent. 

 Native of temperate and sub-tropical Himalaya from 2,000 to 7,000 

 feet altitude. Also of Ceylon, central province, altitude 4,000 to 7,000 

 feet. 



