By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 



449 



a small shrub, about two feet high, with rounded, rugose 

 leaves, growing mixed with the larger species. 



Afzelius* mentions a Fig-tree producing fruit the size of 

 a Hazel nut, and also notices that it is liable to destruction 

 by the ants. 



Psidium. Linnaeus. 

 Wild Guavas. Psidium pyriferum ? 

 Guavas are mentioned by Afzelius,+ as growing in the 

 settlement of Sierra Leone, but it is not stated by him whether 

 they are the same with any of the kinds which are common 

 in the West India Islands. No dried specimens of the plants 

 now noticed were sent home, nor was any of their fruit pre- 

 served in spirits; they grow in marshy spots on the side of the 

 Sierra Leone river, attaining a height of from ten to fifteen 

 feet, and bear abundantly. Mr. Don describes the fruit as 

 greenish yellow on the outside and red within, somewhat re- 

 sembling, though of a smaller size, the common Guava of 

 the West Indies (Psidium pyriferum), and in his opinion infe- 

 rior to it in flavour. The plants which have been raised from 

 the seeds received from Mr. Don, though very similar in 

 appearance to the Psidium pyriferum, do not exactly agree 

 with it, the leaves of the African plant being smaller and 

 narrower. They may possibly prove to be a distinct spe- 

 cies, which cannot be determined until they shall have at- 

 tained a size sufficient to enable us to make a due comparison 

 of the two plants ; at present it seems safest to consider that 

 now described as a variety only of the Psidium pyriferum. 



* Afzelius's Report, page 23G. 

 f Ibid, page 233. No. 13. 



vol. v. 3 N 



