Antigua and the Antiguans. Volume 2

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BOTANY.

It is another species of the tribe citrus, belonging to the same class and order as its sister shrubs, the lime and orange. The fruit is of two kinds—the one with a white pulp, the other of a reddish colour ; the latter is the most esteemed. The fruit is of much larger dimensions than the orange, with a thick rough rind, which is capable of being manufactured into a very superior kind of bitters. This tree grows to the height of from eight to twelve feet, with thick broad leaves, slightly serrated. LIME-TREE, citrus limonum, of the polyadelphia order, class polyandria. The calyx is divided into five segments, the corolla is quinquefid, and of the most delicate white, and with numerous antheræ tipped with yellow farina. The scent of the flowers is most delicious; and their silvery whiteness, contrasted with the glossy green of the foliage, renders it one of the most beautiful of shrubs. The lime-tree is said to resemble the holly of England in appearance ; it sometimes attains the height of fifteen feet. Oldmixon, speaking of this shrub, says—" Fifty years ago, the planters made hedges of them about their houses ; their prickles served for a fortification against the naked negroes." The fruit is very fragrant, of the colour and shape of a lemon, and about the size of a hen's egg ; the juice is a strong acid. Galisco mentions that it was the lime-tree and the box which Harpalus found so much difficulty in cultivating at Babylon. The ORANGE, citrus aurantium, is of the same class and order as the foregoing. The trunk rises smooth and straight, from six to ten feet in height, when it divides into several branches, forming a green canopy. The leaves are ovalshaped, and of a glossy green ; and its beautiful and fragrant flowers spring forth from numerous flower-stalks at the side of the branches. The fruit, when gathered, is in a green state, which afterwards attains a yellow colour. An orangebough just severed from the tree, bending gracefully from the weight of its fruit, and shewing its clusters of pearly blossoms, is a very lovely picture. AVOCADA PEAR, persea gratissima, order trigynia, class


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