16 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



Paritium (Hibiscus) elatum, Crescentia cujete (Calabash tree), and the 

 Angeleen tree (Andira inermis). For miles inland this swampy plain 

 extends. Above Lacovia the hilly country is entered, the banks 

 steep and the slopes well wooded. Here reappear the Anchovy 

 Pear tree, the Antidote Vine, the Angeleen tree, and Paritium 

 elatum ; and amongst other trees occurs Crudya spicata, the large 

 seeds of which, often as large as those of Entada scandens and possess- 

 ing the same name of " Cocoon," may be observed floating in numbers 

 in the germinating condition in the stream. Amongst the tall trees 

 on the steep slopes grow Cassia grandis, the long pods of which occur 

 in the floating drift, and a species of Ficus, the fruits of which could 

 only float for a short time ; whilst Mucuna urens, a climber on the 

 trees, adds its seeds to the floating drift. 



I have mainly referred to the vegetation that contributes to the 

 floating drift of fruits and seeds carried by the stream. The clumps 

 of tall Sabal palms (S. umbraculifera), that dot the surface of the 

 Great Morass, make little or no addition to the drift, as the fruits 

 possess but slight buoyancy, and the same may be said of other palms 

 (Euterpe, etc.). The same remark applies to the climbing aroids 

 (Syngonium and Philodendron) that often conceal the tree-trunks. 



But brief reference need here be made to a multitude of aquatic 

 and subaquatic plants, Ceratophyllum, Nymphcea, Pontederia, Pota- 

 mogeton, Sagittaria, Utricularia, etc., that, except in the fourth and 

 fifth cases, were not represented by their seeds or their fruits in the 

 floating drift. In the lower part of the river the floating seed-drift 

 often accumulates amongst the patches of Water Hyacinth (Ponte- 

 deria), and here may be found the Water Lettuce (Pistia) and 

 portions of Azolla. In concluding these remarks on the Black River, 

 I may call attention to the frequency of germinating fruits and seeds 

 in the floating drift, as already noticed in the cases of Crinum, Crudya, 

 Grias, and Symphonia. 



In the foregoing remarks the Great Morass of the Black River 

 district is dealt with as a source of river-drift. A detailed description 

 of it will be found in Chapter V. ; and there also will be found an 

 account of the Great Morass of Westmoreland in the south-west part 

 of the island. The Cabarita, one of the larger rivers that drain it, 

 presents most of the characters of the Black River as regards vegeta- 

 tion, though on a smaller scale. As will subsequently be shown, 

 many of the conspicuous features of the Black River Morass are 

 represented in the portion of the Great Morass of Westmoreland 

 that extends westward from Savanna-la-mar to Negril, Grias cauli- 

 flora being especially prominent on the banks of streams in this 

 part of the island. 



The Roaring River Falls, Jamaica. — At these falls on the north 

 coast of Jamaica there are some fine specimens of the Grias tree, 

 which grows not only near the brink of the falls, but half-way down 

 the precipitous slopes of calcareous tufa that form their face. At 

 the cost of a wetting I clambered down the steep slopes to their base. 

 Fruits carried over the falls have caught in crevices in their descent, 

 and there germinating have developed into trees. Below the falls 

 the Grias trees are associated with tall trees of Bucida buceras and 



