FLORA AND FAUNA 
3T 
its long roundish fruit as large as a man’s head. Also 
the majestic Barringtonias, whose cap-like fruits, called 
by the settlers “bonnets carres”, lie about everywhere 
on the beach. Lower shrubs and herbs covering large 
areas have become naturalized on the coasts of Mada¬ 
gascar, such as the lime-leaved hibiscus {H. tiltaceits), 
Acalypha Indica^ EtipJioidia pilulifera^ the bead tree 
[Abnis precatorius) Gtiilandina Bonduc^ and the climbing 
Entada with its jointed pods 3 feet in length; the bushes of 
Poivrea coccinea with its bright red racemes are of striking 
beauty. A convolvulus with flesh-coloured flowers 
{Ip 07 ncBa pes caprce) flourishes in sandy places. Certain 
plants have been introduced by American trading-ships, 
such as Chenopodmm ambrosioidcs^ and Argemone mexicana^ 
a yellow poppy which I met with growing in masses upon 
refuse heaps near Tamatave and Vohemar. 
Many tropical fruit trees are utilized by man, as the 
papaws, mangoes. Jack-fruit trees and guavas which are 
met with everywhere in the neighbourhood of human 
habitations. 
Mangrove trees grow wherever there are sheltered 
bays; their knotted grey stems bear a thick crown of 
foliage; their far-reaching roots are dry at low tide, but 
are covered by the inrush of the sea water at high 
tide. Numberless land-crabs make their way about these 
unhealthy mangrove swamps. 
Let us describe the vegetation on the eastern side of 
the island. Behind the coast line, which is not very 
characteristic in its forms, we come to a zone of heath 
land with extensive meadows, moors and swamps. Here 
flourish elegant club mosses [Lycopodmm xerntmm) mingled 
with polypodium and mertensia, sometimes forming 
extensive light-green meadows. In the swamps grow 
beds of papyrus (Cypertts cequalis) as high as a man, 
while graceful water-lilies [Nymphcea emimtensis) cover 
the surface of the water with their small red flowers; 
