ON THE AMAZON. 177 
Victoria regia and Creutziana (of the latter I have only the brief de- 
scription in Walpers), so that I can hardly doubt their being the 
same species, as had been already more than suspected. 
The igarapé, where we gathered the Victoria, is called Tapiruari. I 
had two flowers brought to me a few days afterwards from the adjacent 
lake, which seems to have no name but that of the sitios on its banks ; 
Mr. Jeffreys has also brought me flowers from the Rio Arrapixuna, 
which runs into the Tapajoz above Santarem, and in the wet season 
unites the. Tapajoz and Amazon. I have further information of its 
growing abundantly in a lake beyond the Rio Mayaca, which flows into 
the Amazon some miles below Santarem. Mr. Wallace, who recently 
visited Monte Alegre, had a leaf and flower brought to him there; I 
have seen a portion of the leaf, which he dried. Lastly, I have correct 
intelligence of its occurring in the Rio Trombétas near Obidos, and in 
lakes between the rivers Tapajos and Madeira, so that there can be no 
doubt of its being plentifully distributed throughout the whole of this 
region, both north and south of the Amazon. 
The vegetation around Santarem offers a great contrast to that of 
Parà. Instead of the interminable plains and forests, uninterrupted 
save by intersecting rivers, of that district, we have here sandy ele- 
vated campos, rising, as they recede from the rivers, into picturesque 
though not lofty sierras, and clad with short herbage, with here and 
there groups of gaily-flowered shrubs, precisely recalling the park- 
scenery of some parts of England. Amongst these shrubs the famous 
Suca-úba (Plumiera phagadenica, Mart.) is one of the most frequent ; 
I have got ripe seeds and young plants of it. The white flowers 
are, unfortunately, very fugacious, otherwise it is a very handsome- - 
growing shrub. There are, besides, some interesting Rubiacee, 
some very curious Euphorbiaceae, and the Melastomacee are more - 
showy than those near Parà: one isa small plant three or four feet 
high, with large purple flowers—it is possibly a Pleroma, but seems 
different from any I have seen cultivated in England ; another, a com- 
pact-growing shrub with large panicles of most beautiful flowers, in 
which the white petals, the yellow anthers, and the scarlet filaments 
and connective are well contrasted. Yet though I have had ample oc- 
cupation with my dried and other collections since my arrival, a very 
large proportion of the plants seem to flower only in the wet season, 
and the campos are every day becoming more and more burnt up. 
Mr. Wallace gives the same account of Monte Alegre, and I have the 
VOL. II. AP 
