BOTANY.
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stance. The fruit is in form like an English pear, and of a slightly acid flavour ; the rind is thick, and of a red colour, marked near the base with streaks of yellow ; the pulpy interior is of the finest crimson, and of the consistence of syrup, which is sometimes used to colour sweetmeats, and affords at times a rich treat to the little negroes. The fruit starts from the leaves without any footstalks, and leaf succeeds to leaf, until it attains the height of from five to six feet. It loves a sandy soil, but on every bank, or in every pasture, it may be met with ; while from its formidable spines, and thick fleshy leaves, it forms an excellent fence. There is another species, called the French prickly pear, the succulent leaf of which is sometimes used as a vegetable. The EGG-PLANT, solarium melongena, or ovigerum, is a curiosity in the vegetable kingdom. It attains the height of from two to three feet, and is covered with downy leaves of an ovate form. The fruit is of a globose fleshy berry, of the size, shape, and colour of a hen's egg, from whence its name. There are three species of lilies indigenous to the country, the most common of which is the LILY-ASPHODEL, amaryllis equestris, a genus of the monogynia order, hexandria class of plants. The flower rises from an oblong emarginated spatha; the corolla consists of six lance-like petals, of a clear white, with long slender stamens. The seed-bag, or capsule, is composed of three valves, and contains numerous seeds. COTTON SHRUB, or gossypium, rises to the height of six or seven feet. The flower is bell-shaped, and consists of one leaf deeply cut into several segments, enfolding one another, and of a pale primrose. From the centre of the flower rises a kind of hollow cylinder, adorned with chives or filaments. The pointai becomes a globular fruit, or pod, composed of five cells, containing small, hard, black seeds, closely enwrapped in the wool, (or cotton, as it is more generally termed,) which, when ripe, bursts open at the apex, and discloses the snowy interior.