a botanist’s trip to java. 
143 
needs only a short stroll along some of the well graveled paths 
at Buitenzorg to become truly humble. The scientific names of 
the trees are all new to him. Now and then, if lucky, he sees 
a plant name which he has read in some book but with most of 
the names he is entirely unacquainted. The names of families 
even are not familiar; or if he knows them it is in connection 
with some herbaceous plant of his northern home. 
There are tall trees belonging to the Aster family, the Spurge 
family and the Nightshade family. While ornamental herbs are 
few, trees and shrubs with handsome flowers continually attract 
attention. One large tree, Spathodea campanulata, is very con¬ 
spicuous for its red, bell-shaped flowers. It is a native of Africa 
but now quite generally planted throughout the tropics. Am- 
herstia nobilis, from British India, is another tree with handsome 
red flowers. We, who have in our cold, forbidding country, few 
trees with conspicuous flowers, can scarcely imagine the beauty 
of a forest scene in which the somber green of the foliage is ever 
and anon lighted up with masses of flaming red or soft shades 
of pink and lilac. 
The various edible fruits which are seen growing in the garden 
may be eaten at the hotel. At the time of my visit (February 
to April) these were very numerous. Probably the favorite fruit 
is the mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana. This is about the size 
of a very small orange, but it has a hard, woody, outer rind, dark 
reddish brown in color. The servants cut the rind around the 
equator of the fruit before bringing it to the table. When opened 
up the pinkish interior, in sections like an orange, is all ready to 
be eaten. I find it quite impossible to describe the taste of the 
mangosteen. There is a gelatinous quality and a certain sweet¬ 
ness, but above all a most pleasing flavor which is absolutely 
unique. Other fruits there are, such as the duku and the ram- 
butan, which are quite as beautiful to look upon and which have 
a mucilaginous sweetness, but they lack that essential flavor which 
kind nature has given us only in the mangosteen. 
A very different kind of fruit from these is the durian. Some 
men there are who eat this fruit and claim that it is good to eat, 
but I, for one, could not enjoy anything with such a rare com- 
