A BOTANICAL MARVEL

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2548, 8 July 1909, Page 5

A BOTANICAL MARVEL

STRANGE STORY FR0..1 IHE EAST.

TREE WITH BLOOD-LILE SAP.

A writer in the “Singapore j Free Press” gives an interesting . ccount of a small pink blossom of gre it rarity, which he says has the valuable property ol : intensifying the scent oi any flower if the water in winch ir has been kept is sprinkled .over the bouquet. This blossom, which commands a very high price, is grown only in a certain garden oil tlie Buona Vista Road, by an old Javanese, Hadji Abdullah by name, whose reputation as ai, gardener is so well known locally that the expression ‘ ‘it is as if grown in rhe kebun of Hadji Abdul.all,” is frequently heard when the fragrance of any flower is of more than exquisite delicacy. The writer continues:—

Having expressed the uesire to. visit the famed guidon of Hadji, I was taken there one morning by a mutual acquaintance and found the old man gathering the newly fallen leaves from a tail flowering shrub, which lie intends to store till ready for market. The Hadji had for over twenty years, been employed* in the great tropical gardens at Buitenzorg, and was field in. the highest esteem by lib employers, it being sufficient to say that having accompanied the director of the gardens and a party of the jungles of tbe Celebes in search of rare orchids, one discovered by him was named in his honor, the Ore-hid Abdullah. Having secured a pension from the Dutch Government lie came to Signanore, acquiring a grant of land which he planted with spice trees not much known commercially and flowering plants se-ldom seen in this region. The large garden lay Quite hid from tho roadway, and was beautirullv kept, yet there were wild corners where one •could sit surrounded with beautiful foliage having all the charms of an Eastern garden, and forget his nearness to- Western associations. The Hadji having in the exaggerated language of tbe East, placed the whole garden and its contents at my dbposal, I was surprised that he added the limitation “Save only tbe poko karbola.” On my second visit, being curious, I asked him tbe meaning of this, when he led me to a shady corner, where grew a short tree covered with bright yellow leaves of velvet** softness, having brandies and stems of a glossy black, which seemed unnatural to associate with plant life, and might be taken for the soft fur of a black kitten. A wind had begun to rbe, and, as we stood beside the tree it increased in violence and a few of the leaves were swept from their stems. Motioning me to advance, the Hadji pointed to the part where the leaves had been severed, which, on pressing with a finger, left an impression of bright red, the color of blood. After a few moments he now directed my attention to the fact that the red juice had ceased to exude. Wondering, I askedUiim for an explanation, when he assured me that plants, like human beings, have not only life but feelings, hearts that can be lacerated and saddened by cruel stabs, and feel all the emotions we so unthinkingly deny to be existent in tbe lower animal and plant life. He then told me the following story of his discovery of this rare tree. “When a young man. of barely seventeen. I married the daughter of a gardener named Abdul bin Ali, who, like myself, was employed in the gardens of Buitenzorg. She was a frail thing, and had first attracted me by a soft appealing look in her eyes, such as one sees in a rusa betina or doe when tbe knife lies embedded in its side, and .as l was ready to forego the usual money claim, her father was only too glad to let me have her. She bore me a child, which, to my disappointment, was a girl, who died after two days in the arms of the bidan.

“My wife afterwards seemed to change in appearance, the color of her skin becoming that dark red such as men love to see, her body well nourished, and her manner, though modest, more cheerful, her voice being heard sometimes in singing. I was astonished at the great alteration, but the cause remained unknown. One day I found a leaf such as you now behold, and having never seen its like before, I asked my wife where she had got it. on which she denied all knowledge of how it came to be in the house. “During the same week, one afternoon in the month R-ajab. feeling feverish. I left work earlier than usual, and when crossing a belt of jungle near a solitary part of the gardens, espied my wife sitting beside a small tree. At my approach she started up. and,'N_

throwing her arms round the tree, gave out loud cries. I rushed forward to sco what was wrong, aud found her unconscious, but clinging so tenaciously to the. tree, or the tree to her, that itwas only with considerable violence that 1 was able to detach lier body, which I raised in my arms and hurried home with, to find that she had ceased to live. On examining this tree I found part of the bark peeled off. a red juice exuding such as you have justwitnessed, having the color and smell of blood, and on the very next day it was found withered and dried up.” The recollection seemed to sadly affect the old man. who hero rose and loft me, and attempts at. further explanation were ever afterwards met bv a silence that proclaimed his disinclination to revert to the subject.