4 
flower little or not at all. Some like the Hoya Aldrichu have 
constantly failed, the local H.eptapleurum closely allied to one ot 
our common species has made but little growth. 
The climate- and soil of Christmas Island is peculiar, the position 
of the island being 'uvular with a dry season, and the groun eing 
Plainly coral reef being extremely porous and dry and very ncn 
in lime and phosphates which the soil of Singapore is poor ln » so 
that the flora is quite xerophilous, and if is hardly to be expec 
that the same plants would grow under such diverse conditions. 
Australian plants are mostly xerophilous and very few can be 
induced to grow here. The Gardens have been liberally supplied 
with seeds and plants of all kinds from the Australian Gartens. 
Upwards of 200 kinds of Eucalyptus have been tried, most . on 
several occasions; only three species have, however, been successfully 
raised to trees. Of other Australian plants hardly any can be said 
to thrive. Buckingham ia is a fine large tree which flowers regularly 
but has never showed 'signs of fruiting. Grevitlea robusta, Damd- 
sonia, and a few others exist but in a weak^state. The on\y go . 
Grevillea I have seen is one in the Bishop’s Garden in town, that is 
to say nearer the sea. A very large number were planted on a h.fl 
near the reservoir, some years ago as shade trees and for a tew 
years looked quite healthy but nearly all have now perished or 
are perishing. 
The Australian orchids are quite failures- many do not flower 
some flower once and die away, few can be induced to ' do a " y 
good. The Palms on the other hand do thoroughly well • Ardiont^ 
Phoenix, and Ptychoperma Macarthun especially. The latter indeed 
fs the only palm which spreads naturally and often turns up in odd 
parts of the Gardens, the seed being transported by birds. 
Polynesian plants on the whole grow well, but comparatively few 
have been obtained. Many of them are sea-shore plants, and being 
xerophilous do not do well inland. 
African plants.- The plants of the Mascarene Islands and of 
Western Tropical Africa thrive here, especially the plar uS of the 
Congo and Niger forest region. Some of the plants ot the East 
coast Zanzibar have been successfully grown, and con sl derable 
additions have been made to the Gardens from Uganda an, d German 
East A«ca. The central African Sansevieiras have nearly all 
flowered and fruited. But the very dry region species S . ^ h f en ~ 
berm, seem to make no growth. The Abyssinian plant^ and thos 
of the. highlands of the interior have generally failed. 
Very few of the plants of Southern Africa have been successfully 
crown here. The Gladioli can be flowered for one or two seasons, 
but then perish. They have fruited, however; Richardia aethiopica 
the Call a 3 lily, has never beer, induced to flower, out the more 
Northern R. albomaculata has done so, though the plants were 
unhappy and soon died away. Strelitzia Reginx, does not flower, 
but S Nicolai flowered once. Ravenala Madagascariensis grows to 
a great size and the plants in the Botanic Gardens have always been 
