tefej 



Plait; XL 



No.1. 



DIOTI IONEA IMBRICATA. 



I), imbricate; coulis nrticulati mtemodiU fusiformibus sulcalis basi sqimmis 

 iiiibricnlis, Ibliis linearibus apicc nHusis aut cmarginntid donticulo interjccto, 

 podunculis terminalibu* 2-3-floris parit&r imbricate labollo ovale ucuminato 

 sc'imlis pHaliscjuo con form i. 



The two plants which form iho subject of (he accompanying plalc arc represented from 

 drawing* brought home from Gtmyau* by Mr. Schomburgk, who h«* favoured of with the following 

 account of tlieir native situations. 



" Tlw Diolhoncn was met wilh on the high mountain chain between the 65th and 60th meridian, 

 and Uio 4ih |»nml1cl of latitude, at an elevation of 8 to 7,000 feet above the *eo. The summits of 

 those elevations are thickly covered wilh two specie* of lichen, the Cladonia nmgifcrina ami 

 reticulata, the white colour of which conveys entirely the supposition that the ground ** covered 

 with snow. Hie thermometer stood frequently in the morning at *17* R, and this decrease of heal 

 became sensible to our body, and communicated to the nose a reddish appearance. This, connected 

 with the WOW-white lichens, powerfully reminded lis of a winter landscape. And. indeed, tin* 

 stunted trees, with grey tortuous branches and their foliage, would have assisted to make the picture 

 more perfect, if numerous Orchidaeea-, conjointly with green mosses, had not clothed the branches and 

 trunks of trees. Indeed it was the Orchidncen* alone which gave the vegetation a tropical aspect-- 

 neither Palms nor Heliconias nor Uranias were to be seen* The Diotbonca, with it* bright red 

 blossoms, looked beautiful among tin- lulu of mosses and white lichens, and 1 was so delighted with 

 meeting this pretty plant, which grew in such abundance at these heights* that I collected it again 

 and again, although I knew how little chance there was of bringing a specimen alive to England ; 

 for I had yet to crow upwards of 1,500 miles by water and land before I could reach the sea const 

 of Dcmcrnra. 



" I have already observed that it grows in tufts and among the moss which clothes in such 

 profusion the trunks and branches of trees in that situation. Mosses ore generally found in humid 

 places, and here, where every thing bore the stamp of dryness, this profusion of mosses and lichens 

 was surprising. The former covered the ground to such a thickness that on sitting down one might 

 have fiutticd oneself reclining on the softest cushion. Among the moss on the ground I observed 

 numerous specimen* of ^obralia liliastrum and Evclynn. -Mosses it appears do not always require 

 humid atmosphere, nor Sobralias a sandy soil and sunny situation. I need not say how surprised 

 I was to meet the Sobrnlia again at Esmeralda among the ridge of heaped up blocks at a sliort 

 distance from the village, and which is called Caquirc. I found numerous specimens growing in 

 the vegetable Mjil, which had collected between the blocks. ftuida is, however, of the same 

 formation as II oral ma, in the vicinity of which I found the first SobralJi liliastrum in Guayana. We 

 discovered the Maxillaria near Mount Maravaea. which belongs to the same sandstone- formation* 

 It grew in abundance mi trunk* and branches of trees at a height of about 5 to <i,000 feet 





