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1 8 . B y t t n e r i a c e j e .
Pterospermum, Schreb.
94. P . s u b e r i f o l iu m , Willd.—A tree said by Roxburgh to grow
in the Island. Bot. Mag. 1526.—Hab. E. Indies.
Melhania, A it.;—Trochetia, D.C.
95. *M . e r y t h r o x y l o n , A it.; Trochetia erythroxylon, Benth. et
Hk. f.—The Redwood of the Islanders. Grows to a tree twenty
feet in height, with handsome slender foliage of a pale green; the
flowers first appear pure white, changing after a day to pink, and
finally to a brownish-red as they begin to fade. The wood is hard,
and of a dull-brown colour. One or two specimens of this beautiful
indigenous plant still remain growing amongst the Cabbage-trees,
Ferns, and other native plants in the glens near Diana’s Peak and
High Peak, alt. 5. I t is, however, very quickly disappearing, and
ere long will probably become altogether extinct. Some cultivated
specimens exist in gardens as low down as alt. 3'7 ; but altogether not
more than seventeen or eighteen plants are now to be found in the
Island-Bviz., two at Arnos Yale; one at Oakbank; three or four at
Bowers’s, in Sandy Bay ; two at Sam. Alexander’s ; one at Southens;
six or eight young trees at The Hermitage; one at Diana s Peak;
and one at High Peak. I t flowers in June. P l a t e 28. Also Bot.
Mag. 1000.
96. *M . m e l a n o x y lo n , A it.; Trochetia melanoxylon, Benth. et
Hk. f.—The Native Ebony of St. Helena. This plant I believe to be
now extinct. I t formerly grew on the outer portions of the Island
near the coast, at alts, of 2 to 4, where the weatherbeaten stems
are still found deeply embedded in the surface soil. The last plant
I saw was a small one growing in the garden at Oakbank, about
twenty-five years ago, but it is not there now, and I have searched
the whole Island over for another, but in vain. The leaves were
dark-green, and the flowers white; the wood is very hard, heavy,
black in colour, and extremely brittle. I t is still collected and turned
into ornaments, which are much prized on account of its rarity.
That this tree once formed a considerable portion of the vegetation
clothing the Island on those parts that are now quite barren,
is strongly evidenced by the many references to it in the local records.
P l a t e 29.