The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-02-24

nearly round leaves, and fragrant, dark
purple flowers, four inches or more II
| diameter, whose multitudinous rays pro
| claim it a passion flower. Among The
leaves here and there is the large
| melon-hke fruit six to eight inches long
| oval, pale green, with a smooth skin
This is the grenaldilla, one of the mos
| delicious of tropical fruits. The edible
! part is precisely that which is a pull
| which is agreeably acid and of a flavor
like that Of the Catawba grape. Only
| those with antiquated ideas about The
cause of appendicitis hesitate about par
taking OF the delicacy, for to remove
! the seeds would be proclamation.
Another passion flower produces dull
| purple fruit of the size of a goose egg,
which has a similar acid pulp, less deli
cate in flavor, but priced by many; it is
known as the water lemon. Still an
! other species, distinguished as the sweet
water lemon, has a fruit somewhat larger
and of rich yellow color when ripe, the
pulp, however, wanting aC1dity, and so
not highly esteemed.
Other fruits that will be found in Ho-
nolulu are the South American mamn1ee
apple, fine tree with handsome foliage;
the pomegranate, planted as an orna-
mental shrub rather than for the sake
of its fruit; the pineapple, III numerous
varieties; the loquat (Rosaceious) the
lava plum and so-called Spanish cherry
(both Myrtaceous) and the familiar
peach. Very few of the fruits of the
temperate zone will grow in Honolulu.
Apples, pears, plu1ns, cherries, as well
as such berries as the raspberry, black
berry, currant, gooseberry are consplcu-
Gus by their absence.
But few coniferous trees appear in
Honolulu. The Monterey cypress is
planted occasionally, and seems TO
thrive ArDor Vitae was planted long
ago in Nuuanu Cemetery, and perhaps
for this reason is scarcely seen elsewhere.
Instead of pines and spruces, we find
araucarias, which certainly supply their
places very well, and which maintain
their symmetry of growth in spite OF
the trade wind.
seen in and about Honolulu than any
Of the foregoing, and which IS ire
Quent1y mistaken for a confer IS the
ironwood. Casuarin equisetifolia, prob
ably originally a native of Australia, al |
though now widely distributed in trop- |
ical countries A leafless tree with |
dropping Harmonious branchlets sinful !
ating the foliage of the pines, and with |
a fruit quite as conelike in appearance
certainly as that OF the juniper, il might |
with great show OF plausibility claim |
relationship with pine, cypress or cedar. |
The heavy, black, hard wood OF the |
tree has been used by the South Sea
islanders for making war clubs, and IN
the Fiji islands forks were made OF Ii
to be used exclusively in the cannibal
ieasts. The tree was not known, how
ever. to the aboriginal Hawaiian.
One OF the finest exotic shade trees
5 the samang, commonly known in Ho-
lolulu as the nonkey-pod tree. II IS
7ne OF the numerous leguminous trees
hat have been introduced-most of them
belonging to the Acacia or TO the Cas-
ia group. and having accordingly COM
pound or decompound leaves. This Is
great spreading tree of rapid growth,
hrowing oft its branches as near the
ground as circumstances VIII permit.
Ike. many other plants Of the family,
t has the habit Of folding together its
eaf1ets at night. so that after six O'Clock
{ presents a peculiar wllted appearance
Tuite in contras. with its ordinary as
,ect, which is one OF exubeTant vitality.
The foliage may become a little ragged
n winter. but only preparatory to a
more glorious rehabilitation, which cul-
inmates with It's poisoning time, when
or weeks the deep, rich green OF its
oliage is seen as through a haze or
MIST of rose-purple. The blossoms, like
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