The debt of other countries to Brazil and indeed all tropical America for ferns and cacti is also great. The Canna and its ally Marcanta may be traced in England as far back as 1730; the Begonias and the Gesnera date from 1816–18, whilst the favourite Abutilon, introduced in 1837, is today hardy in many parts of Europe. The Gloxinia, arriving from South America a century earlier, has developed possibilities undreamt-of by earlier horticulturists, and the same may be said of the Fuchsia, brought from Mexico and Chile, 1823–25. The most popular South American shrub is the _Escallonia macrantha_, introduced from the island of Chiloe (Alexander Selkirk’s retreat) in 1848; it has for many years been a favourite hedge plant in the county of Cornwall, where it thrives in pink profusion. [Illustration: On the Madeira River, Amazonas; rapids at Tres Irmãos. Victoria Regia lilies near Manáos. ] The Calceolaria is another early nineteenth century alien from South America; so too is the Dahlia: sixty years ago whole nurseries were given over to the culture and hybridization of this flower, and an entire literature appeared on the subject. Its popularity has somewhat waned, but on the other hand the most gorgeous of greenhouse climbers, Bignonia, was never more treasured than it is today. Brazil, and other adjacent countries, has given us also many species of such genera as Achimenes, Alstromeria, Anthurium, Aristolochia, Caladium, Calathea, Hibiscus, Iponoea (the Evening Primrose), and hundreds of other beautiful plants. Among plants introduced and cultivated abroad for other reasons than their loveliness are the pineapple (_Anana sativa_) which reached Europe as early as 1690; coconuts were carried from Brazil a century ago; and the Brazil nut (_Bertholletia excelsa_), which was probably first taken to Portugal by very early navigators, finds its first mention in England in the 1830 edition of Lindley’s _Natural System of Botany_; he speaks of the “Souari ... or Brazil nuts of the shop, the kernel of which is one of the most delicious fruits of the nut kind.”