53 



and button-wood may also be seen. Large trees of any species 

 except live oaks are quite rare. 



Among shrubs the crape myrtle with flowers that look as if 

 made of pink tissue paper is very common. Among shrubs also 

 must be classed the fig "trees," which hang over almost e/ery 

 wall. They are loaded with small green figs at present, but 

 these, I have been informed, do not come to maturity. The sea- 

 son for ripe figs has been past for some week^ and the trees are 

 now dropping their leaves. Unless I class the castor oil plant 

 (Ricinus) with the shrubs, I shall not know where to place it. 

 The Northern housewife who so carefully cultivates a few 

 starveling "castor oil beans" in her garden, would be both sur- 

 prised and pleased to see the same species here, taking on the 

 form and size of a tree and luxuriating in untrammeled freedom 

 on rubbish heaps and in other wastes. In spots where it is cared 

 for, it forms a trunk several inches thick and carries its crown 

 fifteen or twenty feet skyward. Recently much has been written 

 concerning the utility of the castor oil bean in driving away mos- 

 quitos. However valuable it may be in other parts of the world, 

 its virtues seem to be lost here. Mosquitos are "too numerous to 

 mention" — without strong language — and all the inhabitants 

 sleep under mosquito bars. 



Our familiar friend, the elder, is another plant that attains un- 

 usual proportions. Here it is really a tree and bears its clusters 

 of berries far out of reach. I have never seen the European elder 

 tree, but imagine this must be somewhat like it. Along with 

 the berries which are just ripening one sees quantities of the 

 creamy blossoms. This second blooming is said to be due to 

 freakishness upon the part of individual plants, but it appears to 

 me to be so general that I question whether it may not be possible 

 that the plant is trying to develop two blooming seasons a year. 



Although we are well within the limits of the orange belt, 

 few of these trees are to be seen. Their place is taken to some ex- 



