Mauritius, but here it
was in its native home, luxuriating on the banks of the stream, its
trunk a foot in diameter, its broad-leaved branches stretching over the
water, and its large, pink, globular, composite[224] flowers, three or
four inches in diameter, suspended at the end of a fine down-covered
stalk, nine inches or a foot in length. These, hanging by hundreds along
the course of the stream, surpassed anything of the kind I had seen, or
could possibly have imagined. I frequently met with the _Astrapaea_
afterwards, but always growing near the water, and its branches
frequently stretching over a lake or river."[225]

The Leguminous or Papilionaceous order presents many plants of striking
beauty, both in foliage, which is often of extreme lightness and
elegance, and also in blossom. They are among the gayest and most
graceful of plants in all regions. The magnificent vegetation of the
Mauritius contains one of notable glory, the Flamboyant, thus noticed by
Ellis:--

"Conspicuous beyond all the rest is the stately and gorgeous _Poinciana
regia_, compact-growing and regular in form, but retaining something of
the acacia habit, rising sometimes to the height of forty or fifty feet,
and, between the months of December and April, presenting, amidst its
delicate pea-green pinnated leaves, one vast pyramid of bunches of
bright, dazzling scarlet flowers. Seen sometimes over the tops of the
houses, and at others in an open space, standing forth in truly regal
splendour, this is certainly one of the most magnificent of trees. Its
common name is _mille fleurs_, or _flamboyant_."[226]

I have had the delight of seeing the _Poinciana pulcherrima_ in Jamaica,
where it goes by the name of Flower-feuce, or sometimes, the "Pride of
Barbadoes." It is, when in flower, a gorgeous mass of scarlet and
orange, and it seemed to me the most magnificent thing in its way, that
I had ever seen. It does not, however, attain the dimensions of its
antipode, rarely exceeding those of a large shrub.

I know not what the Burmese tree is, which is alluded to in the
following extracts from letters which I have received from my esteemed
friend, Captain G. E. Bulger, of the 10th Regiment:--

"I shall be exceedingly obliged by your telling me whether you are
familiar with the tree known in the West Indies and South America as the
'Bois Immortel;' and whether you think the leaf herewith sent belongs to
it.

"During the cool season in Burmah, the f