JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, 



.New Series.] OCT., NOV. & DEC, 1894. 



Parts 10, 11&I2. 



CASTLETON GARDENS. 



Notes on the most interesting Plants. 



Castleton Gardens is scarcely 30 years old, and therefore as a 

 Botanic Garden, it is still in its infancy. It is however the only re- 

 presentative of a Botanic Garden in Jamaica, as the old Garden at 

 Bath is reduced to the smallest dimensions, and has been shorn of 

 the glory of former day-. 



Castleton is 19 miles from Kingston, but the drive there and 

 back more than compensates for the distance. In going to Castle- 

 ton we pass through some of the most characteristic and beautiful 

 scenery in the Island. To the stranger the marvellous variety of 

 the tropical vegetation is simply bewildering. He sees perhaps 

 *for the first time groves of the bread-fruit tree with its handsome 

 foliage, endless clumps of the feathery bamboo, rows of the truly 

 tropical banana, and in the alluvial soil of the valley of the Wag 

 Water acres of well cultivated tobacco plants, while the hills arise 

 on either hand, their sides covered with patches of yams, sugar 

 caue, cocoa, coffee, coco-nut-palms, &c. 



To those who have Lived long in the island, these natural pro- 

 ducts will be familiar in themselves, but still the combination in 

 endless variety is always novel and always charming, so that the 

 ever chano/ino- scene with the river below and tbe fertile hills above 

 so occupy the attention that Castleton is reached almost too quickly. 



1. JE:tLE aIarmelos, Corr. — The ripe fruit of this Indian Tree, the 



"BaeF fruit, is said to have an exquisite flavour and perfume. 

 The unripe fruit is cut up, sun-dried, and used in cases of dysen- 

 tery. ( Rutacecp.) 



2. Aleurites triloba, Forst. — The Candlenut, sometimes called TTal- 



nut, grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet. The seeds yield oil, which is 

 a good drying oil for paint. In the Sandwich Isles 10,000 gallons 

 are annually produced, ancl used there as a mordant for their vege- 



Nots. — The numbers before the names refer to tli9 Plan. 



