68 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
instead of the yellow or green prevailing in the 
flowers of most of the order ; although they want 
the fine fruit-like odour of the flowers of many of 
the Anonas — of the Chirimoya, for example. 
Among the branches of the trees sat or hung 
many sorts of mistletoe, some of them with bunches 
of long yellow or scarlet, and often sweet-scented, 
flowers. But more admirable than these were the 
lichens, encrusting the old trunks with patches of 
vivid yellow and red, and bearing fruits of the most 
curious and novel character. On some trees, 
lichens of the family of Graphideae prevailed, their 
fruits resembling cabalistic or oriental characters 
strongly written in black or scarlet on a white or 
greyish ground, and of types that seemed wonder- 
fully various to one who was familiar only with the 
Opegraphae of Europe. 
Of the shrubs the most striking was a Rubiad 
(Chomelia ribesioides), which in habit and in its 
numerous pendulous racemes strongly resembled 
a currant-bush, only the yellow downy salver- 
shaped flowers were much prettier. There were 
also several Myrtles and Melastomes ; the former 
bore abundance of black berries, the size of sloes, 
considered eatable by people who did not object to 
a strong flavour of turpentine. 
Over the bushes twined and climbed various 
lianas. Bignoniads and Apocynes with bell-shaped 
white, yellow, or purple flowers ; Diocleae, looking 
like and really closely allied to our scarlet-runners, 
but with long compound spikes of purple or violet 
flowers ; Serjaniae, with compound leaves of three 
or nine deeply-toothed leaflets, spikes of whitish 
flowers and capsules of three membranaceous white 
