381- • - -my 



BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS, 



INCLUDING VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



Vegetation of Brazil The most numerous natural order of plants in 



Brazil, (that is, from the tropic of Capricorn to the Equinoctial Line, the 

 northern limit of my travels,) is the Compositae. Then follow the Graminese, 

 Bubiaceae, Malvaceae, Meiastomaceee, Myrtacete, Leguminosse, Orchideee, 

 Terebinthaceae, Euphorbiacese, Cyperoideee, Aroideae^ Malpighiaceae, Acan- 

 thaceai, Bignoniaceae, Convolvulaceae, Apocyneae, Scrophularineae, Solanaceae, 

 Scitamineae, Guttiferae, Bromeliaceae, Urticeae, Salicarite, Annonaceae, 

 Tiliaceae, &c. These, though mentioned rather at random, will give you an 

 idea of the botany of my Brazilian journey. It is remarkable, that I scarcely 

 found a single representative of the order Cruciferae. You have from all 

 quarters heard the most animated descriptions of the luxuriance and richness 

 of the vegetation of Brazil, and with them I warmly agree. But this is 

 become almost a fashion ; and, in Europe, it seems the general opinion, that 

 the whole of that country is clothed with the most magnificent forests, and 

 of gigantic growth. This idea, though correct with respect to all the 

 maritime districts, the courses of the rivers, and the greater part of the 

 country lying under the equinoctial line, is, however, not at all applicable to 

 vast tracts in the provinces of San Paulo and Goyaz. There I have tra- 

 versed boundless plains, or open regions, some of them covered with fine 

 pasture, formed by a vast variety of the most interesting Gramineae ; others 

 •with grasses intermingled with small plants and shrubs of the fine leaved 

 Melastomaceae, the Malpighiaceae, the herbaceous Rubiacese, and Compositae; 

 others with a varied clothing of annual and perennial flowers, (almost dis- 

 appearing during the dry season,) faintly shaded or protected by extensive 

 groves of low trees, of singular and stunted growth, rarely growing so close 

 together as to form a thicket, or impede the traveller. These arid groves 

 have sometimes reminded me of the acacia groves, so predominant over the 

 plains in the interior of Southern Africa. Yet it is rarely that one can 

 compare African with Brazilian botany ; their character in many particulars 

 differ so widely : but I was a long time in Brazil before I saw such large 

 trunks of timber as I have observed in some of the forests of the Cape 

 colony. I allude to the Podocarpi. These forests are indeed of no extent, 

 compared to those of America ; but they afford specimens of sylvan scenery 

 for the painter, not less grand and beautiful ; although they are generally 

 deficient in that most splendid and noble feature, the Palms. When, however, 

 we descend towards the low latitudes of Brazil, the glorious magnificence of 

 the forests is truly astonishing, and none but those who are born in the midst 

 of them can view such imposing productions of nature without a feeling of 

 awe or respect. She overloads herself, and one object oppresses and smothers 

 another in the general struggle for luxuriance. The BerthoUetia, and some 

 species of Bomhax, far overtop their vegetable brethren, and the trunks of 

 the latter are really stupendous, both in height and thickness. I say nothing 

 of the great climbing plants, as they have been lately so often described ; 

 but we never can be silent with respect to the palms : they abound in every 

 latitude and situation, and their variety is far greater than any one traveller 

 can form an idea of. They are of every size, from that of an ordinary 

 herbaceous plant to that of the highest tree of the forest ; but I think none 

 surpass the Buriti or Miriti, (Mauritia vinifera, Mart. t. 38,) in grandeur 

 and imposing beauty, although the plate does not convey an idea of this 

 character. Another plant, of most extraordinary aspect and magnificence, 

 is the Araucaria ; but this I never saw much to the northward of San Paulo. 

 It is only found at a great elevation, and, I believe, is not known to exist in 



