THE LEAF OF LIFE. 
61 
crenata; a tall, rather handsome plant, with thick 
succulent leaves notched in a fashion which heralds 
term engrailed, leaving rounded segments. It is 
now in blossom, throwing up a spike of greenish 
flowers to the height of three feet. It is considered 
a great curiosity by the creoles, on account of its 
tenacity of the living principle, w^hence they call it 
the Leaf of Life, or the Life Plant. A single leaf is 
sometimes broken off, and suspended by a thread 
from the top of a window ; when a number of delicate 
white rootlets are presently thrown out from the base, 
and the leaf forms a young plant. Some prefer to 
throw the leaf into a draw^er or box, and to open it 
in a week or two, when the same results are found to 
have taken place. I have found that even half a leaf, 
cut across, will root ; and it is impossible to dry the 
plant in an herbarium, without first killing it wdth 
a hot iron, or by boiling water. This property, in a 
greater or less degree, is common to many members 
of the Order Crassulacece, to which the Verea belongs. 
Perhaps it is not indigenous, but is a truant from 
some garden. 
BLUEFIELDS MOUNTAIN. 
Many days had not elapsed, after my arrival at 
Bluefields, before I determined to explore the sum- 
mit of the lofty mountain that rises behind it, and 
bears the same name. A ride of four or five miles 
brought me to the brow of the mountain, the steep- 
ness of the ascent being mitigated by the practice 
(common on the precipitous mountains of the south 
