90 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
am constantly putting, "What do you call this tree or 
flower ? ' And if you ask a botanist, he invariably gives 
you the scientific, not the popular name, nor does he seem 
to be aware that any such exists. I have a due respect for 
nomenclature, but when I inquire the name of some very 
graceful tree or some exquisite flower, I like to receive a 
manageable answer, something that may fitly be introduced 
into the privacy of domestic life, rather than the ponderous 
official Latin appellation. We are struck with the variety 
of Melastomas in full flower now, and very conspicuous, 
from their large purple blossoms, and have remarked also 
several species of the Bombaceas, easily distinguished by 
their peculiar foliage and large cotton fruits. The Cande- 
labra-tree (Cecropia) is abundant here, as throughout the 
neighborhood of Rio, and is covered at this season with 
fruit resembling somewhat the fruit of the bread-tree, but 
more slender and cylindrical in form. Large Euphorbias, 
of the size of forest-trees, also attract our attention, for 
it is the first time we have seen them except as shrubs, 
such as the u Estrella do Norte " (Poinsettia). But there 
is before Mr. Bennett's house a very large nut-tree, " No- 
gueira," of this family. The palms are numerous ; among 
them the Astrocaryum Cari, whose spiny stems and leaves 
make it difficult to approach, is very common. Its bunches 
of bright chestnut-brown fruit hang from between the leaves 
which form its crown, each bunch about a foot in length, 
massive and compact, like a large cluster of black Hamburg 
grapes. The Syagrus palm is also frequent ; it has a 
greenish fruit not unlike the olive in appearance, also 
hanging in large pendent bunches just below the leaves. 
The mass of foliage is everywhere knit together by parasitic 
vines without number, and every dead branch or fallen 
