1 70 Mr. Gardner's Journey to the Organ Mountains, 



Vernonia, and various species of Inga, Cassia, Solanum, Cro- 

 ton, Myrsinece, JEgiphila, Myrtacece and Lantana, Cerasus 

 spharocarpa, Clethra fagifolia ? Cesirum of different species, 

 and, principally by the sides of rivers, Datura arbor ea ; among 

 these grow many herbaceous plants and climbing species of 

 Composites and Leguminosce. Among the shrubs of this divi- 

 sion I met with a species of Ilex, perhaps Ilex paraguaiensis, 

 the leaves of which are used by the blacks as a substitute for 

 tea. I did not see it in flower, and could only meet with tw T o 

 specimens, having a single fruit on each. In habit it is a very 

 upright growing shrub, about fifteen feet high ; where the 

 ground is rather swampy a fine species of Talauma prevails. 

 It forms a tree from fifteen to thirty feet high, and its large 

 green leaves and large pale yellow flowers render it one of the 

 most striking trees I have ever met with. The flowers are 

 highly odoriferous, and a single tree can be discovered by the 

 sense of smell alone at a distance of more than half a mile 

 when the wind blows in the direction from it. In swampy si- 

 tuations one or two species of Laurus are also found. 



5th. Virgin Forests. 1st. Trees. — So far as I have been 

 able to ascertain, these consist for the most part of numerous 

 species of Palmce, Laurus, Ficus, Cassia, Bignonia, and Sola- 

 num. Chorisia speciosa (St. Hilaire), and many myrtaceous 

 trees also abound in the dense forest, among which I found 

 three species of Campomanesia, two of them in fruit, but from 

 the other I obtained good specimens. I likewise observed se- 

 veral trees of a large size belonging to the natural order Pro- 

 teacece. Specimens from one of them will be found in the col- 

 lection of dried plants from the Organ Mountains, marked 

 No. 615. The various species of Laurus form fine large trees, 

 and when growing, as they often do, in an open part of the 

 forest, they remind the European of the oaks of his native 

 country. They flower in the months of April and May, at 

 which season the atmosphere is loaded with the rich perfume 

 of their small white blossoms. When their fruit is ripe, it 

 forms the principal food of the Jacutinga, [Penelope Jacutinga, 

 Spix,) a fine large game bird. Some of the largest trees of 

 the forest are species of Ficus ; one, with an enormous height 

 and thickness of stem, is called by English here the buttress 



