June 8—Syria and Palestine are mentioned very often in our newspapers these days and a fruit tree very common in those countries is attracting a lot of attention at present in our local gardens. This is the "Apple of Carthage" or Pomegranate (Punica Granatum). It is a handsome plant that is grown here more for its attractive double scarlet or creamy-yellow flowers, than for its fruit. There are a few trees here, however, that are cultivated for their fruit, but in most cases. the fruit is of a very mediocre quality; much top bitter for our taste. In Syria, the fruit ripens in August, the seeds of the sweet variety being extracted from the hard leathery rind and served with sugar. We find that the pomegranate wes grown in the early days of Egypt and that it was cultivated along the shores of the Red Sca long before peaches and other fruits were introduced from Persia. The so-called Cape Jasmine (Gardenia radicals) is also in full flower: there is a larger-towered species grown locally as well as the above, but we have not yet seen it flowering this year. The pure white flowers of the Gardenias are very fragrant, perhaps too strongly scented for many people, but they are not used extensively for house decoration here: they attract too many insects and hundreds of these nay be found in each flower. Perhaps the most shows of the plants in flower these days is the perennial Coreopsis, which is producing its masses of goldensyellow flowers in most herbaceous borders and shrubberies. The annual coreopsis, often referred to as a Calliopsis, is also in
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