conspicuous in the flora of Madagascar, though it
contains several magnificent flowering plants. A shrub with the dreadful
name _Harpagophytum Grandidieri_ has bunches of gorgeous red flowers;
_Tristellateia madagascariensis_ is a climbing plant with spikes of rich
yellow flowers; while _Poinciana regia_, a tall tree, _Rhodolaena altivola_
and _Astrapoea Wallichii_, shrubs, are among the most magnificent flowering
plants in the world. _Disa Buchenaviana_, _Commelina madagascarica_, and
_Tachiadenus platypterus_ are fine blue-flowered plants, while the superb
orchid _Angraecum sesquipedale_, _Vinca rosea_, _Euphorbia splendens_, and
_Stephanotis floribunda_, have been long cultivated in our hot-houses.
There are also many handsome Combretaceae, Rubiaceae, and Leguminosae; but,
as in most tropical regions, this wealth of floral beauty has to be
searched for, and produces little effect in the landscape.

The affinities of the Madagascar flora are to a great extent in accordance
with those of the fauna. The tropical portion of the flora agrees closely
with that of tropical Africa, while the plants of the highlands are {441}
equally allied to those of the Cape and of the mountains of Central Africa.
Some Asiatic types are present which do not occur in Africa; and even the
curious American affinities of some of the animals are reproduced in the
vegetable kingdom. These last are so interesting that they deserve to be
enumerated. An American genus of Euphorbiaceae, Omphalea, has one species
in Madagascar, and Pedilanthus, another genus of the same natural order,
has a similar distribution. Myrosma, an American genus of Scitamineae has
one Madagascar species; while the celebrated "travellers' tree," _Ravenala
madagascariensis_, belonging to the order Musaceae, has its nearest ally in
a plant inhabiting N. Brazil and Guiana. Echinolaena, a genus of grasses,
has the same distribution.[113]

Of the flora of the smaller Madagascarian islands we possess a fuller
account, owing to the recent publication of Mr. Baker's _Flora of the
Mauritius and the Seychelles_, including also Rodriguez. The total number
of species in this flora is 1,058, more than half of which (536) are
exclusively Mascarene--that is, found only in some of the islands of the
Madagascar group, while nearly a third (304) are endemic or confined to
single islands. Of the widespread plants sixty-six are found in Africa but
not in Asia, and eighty-six in Asia but not in