172 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of cider is made from the fruit, for the purpose of transmutation 

 into (so-called) Madeiran wine. In the Canaries it is scarcely 

 found, and in the Cape Yerdes it was only met with once in 

 Brava. 



Saxlfeaga.ce.3s. 



65. Eibes Grossularia L. The Gooseberry is grown abun- 

 dantly, for the purpose of selling its unripe fruit for culinary 

 purposes to the English, at an elevation of 2000 or 3000 feet in 

 Madeira ; but it does not occur in either the Canaries or Cape 

 Yerdes. 



66. E. rubra L. (Currants) and 



67. E. nigra L. (Black Currants) are merely found as curiosities 

 in a few English gardens in Madeira. 



Combretace^e. 



68. Terminalia Catappa L. This is found only in the Cape 

 Yerdes, where it forms a noble tree, equally conspicuous for its 

 fine foliage and peculiar ramification. The branches grow in 

 regular distant whorls extending widely all round horizontally 

 from the straight main stem, and diminishing gradually from the 

 bottom to the top of the tree, like a dumb-waiter. The leaves are 

 very large, stiff, and coriaceous, like those of Magnolia grandiflora 

 L., of a bright shining green, turning rich dark crimson before 

 falling. The fruit is a large compressed almond-shaped dark 

 crimson drupe, with a thin insipid sweetish flesh. The nut or 

 kernel inside the hard stone is small, and eatable but not parti- 

 cularly good. 



Myrtace^e. 



69. Psldium pyrlferum L. The "White Guava is extremely 

 common in Madeira, but less so in the Canaries, and I did not 

 find it anywhere in the Cape Yerdes. Erom November to March 

 the fruit abounds in the Madeiran markets and supplies the place 

 of apples both for culinary purposes and the dessert. 



70. P. pomiferum L. The Eed Guava, rare in Madeira, takes 

 entirely the place of the white guava in the Cape Yerdes. It is 

 however a very inferior fruit. 



71. P. littorale Eaddi. A few trees occur here and there 

 in gardens about Eunchal only in Madeira. The yellowish-green 

 pear-shaped fruit is not good enough to cause it to be widely 

 cultivated. 



72. P. Cattleianum Sab. This 7 in Madeira ; to which it is 



