ON THE MODE OF BRANCHING OF SOME AMAZON TREES. 3 



On the nX^cle of branching of some Amazon trees. By Richard 

 Spbuce, Esq. Communicated by Gr. Bentham, Esq., V.P.L.S. 



[Read February 2nd, I860.] 



I shall not readily forget the impression caused by the first view 

 of the eastern margin of that vast forest, in which I wandered for 

 eight years before reaching its western verge. For thirty-two 

 days we had seen only sky and ocean, when, towards evening of 

 the 9th of July, 1849, we sighted the Brazilian coast, some di- 

 stance South of the delta of the Amazon. On the following day, 

 when the morning mist cleared away, a long unbroken shore lay 

 extended before us, which every one on board declared to be steep 

 cliffs of earth furrowed by the rains, but which a telescopic view 

 revealed to be lofty forest springing from the water's edge, the 

 trunks of the trees representing what we had mistaken for rain- 

 furrows. As we ran along shore and gradually lessened our 

 distance, I endeavoured to trace out the species composing the 

 forest ; but, with the exception of the palms, of the trees with 

 bipinnate foliage, and of a few with remarkable dome-shaped 

 crowns, there was such an intermingling of forms that I in vain 

 attempted to separate them ; nor was there, among exogenous 

 trees, any contour so striking as the twisted pyramid of our 

 Northern pines. When I, shortly afterwards, entered the forest, 

 the confusion was still greater ; for so much were the branches of 

 adjacent trees interwoven, and so densely veiled in many cases 

 with twiners and epiphytes, that only an indistinct view could be 

 obtained of any individual tree, and it was only when sailing along 

 the banks of the rivers that I saw so much of the trees, which grow 

 in the inundated forest, as to give me a clear idea of the outlines and 

 general aspect of many of them. In this way I gradually came to 

 distingxush many families and genera by their habit ; and though 

 I knew that what we vaguely term " habit "must depend on the 

 disposition, form, and colour of the leaves and bpuiches, and is 

 therefore capable of definition, I did not begin to analyse my 

 impressions until, after eighteen months' travel, I reached the 

 mouth of the Rio Negro, and was forcibly struck by the para- 

 boloidal form of the nutmeg-trees which abound there. A closer 

 examination showed this outline to depend on the regularly 5- 

 nate branches, extending horizontally, and pinnately branched in 

 the same plane, the lowest or oldest branches being the longest, 

 thence gradually diminishing in length to the apex of the tree. 

 Very symmetrical examples of this structure are afforded by two 



b 2 



