300 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
barium. This collection is well arranged and is in good cases acces- 
sible for study in the director's office at the garden. The collection 
contains also specimens collected by Im Thurn on Roraima; by 
McConnell and Quelch at the same place ; and by Bartlett, Stockdale, 
Abraham, and other recent botanists connected with the botanical 
garden. 
The official botanical work of the colony is now under the general 
direction of Prof. J. B. Harrison, Director of Science and Agriculture. 
Originally nearly all of British Guiana was covered with forest, 
the exceptions being the upland savanna region of the Eupununi 
District in the southern part of the colony mostly between 3° and 
5° latitude, and the coastal savannas which are marshy areas. The 
forest has been removed in part from the areas under cultivation 
which, however, are a small proportion of the whole. 
To the visitor the plants that first attract attention are those culti- 
vated for ornament. Some of these are natives of some part of the 
colony, but many are exotics. A striking feature of the Tropics is the 
palms, of which manj?^ species are to be found in Georgetown. There 
is a fine collection in the botanical garden. The coconut {Cocos 
Tiucifera) , a conspicuous feature of the landscape, is common here as 
on all tropical shores. The cabbage palm {Oreodoxa oleracea) is 
commonly planted along streets and gives an especially fine effect 
when adult trees form long rows on either side of avenues. The 
cabbage palm resembles the coconut, both having pinnate leaves, 
but in the former the inflorescence is borne some distance below the 
crown of leaves, while in the latter it is borne in the axils of the 
leaves of the crown. The royal palm {Oreodooca regia) is less com- 
mon than the cabbage palm and can be distinguished by the very 
smooth even trunk which bulges in the middle. 
Among the native palms may be mentioned the eta palm {Mauritia 
flexuosa) with palmate leaves and large clusters of small fruits about 
an inch in diameter; the manicole {Euterpe edulis) with very slen- 
der erect stem, and the troolie {Manicaria saccifera) much used for 
thatching. One of the climbing forms {Des7noncus sp.) is a great 
nuisance to the collector because of the prolonged midribs, covered 
with reflexed thorns, the ends dangling in the air to catch the unwary 
traveler. 
There is a great variety of trees planted along the streets and in 
the parks of Georgetown, all of much interest to the botanist. Only 
a few of these can be mentioned here. Probably the commonest of the 
conspicuous trees is the saman or raintree {Pithecolobium saman^ 
Samanea saman) , with a graceful rounded widely spreading top. The 
flame tree or flamboyant {Delonix regia^ Poinciana regia) ^ bears 
large clusters of showy scarlet flowers that cover the tree when the 
