MAUTIUS ON THE BOTANY OF BRAZIL. 27 



districts. He has also, with the courtesy which distinguishes 

 the man of learning and science, placed his Brazilian collec- 

 tions at the service of the author of the Flora of Brazil. 



II. Character of the principal regions of the Flora of Brazil. 



The vegetable kingdom in the Brazils presents in general, 

 if it may be so expressed, a fixed character, especially if the 

 tropical regions be more particularly considered. In regard 

 to individual plants, this exhibits itself in the great exube- 

 rance of the ramifications of the leaves, in the profusion of 

 flowers and fruits, and in the absence of those forms of the 

 organs which arise from a stunted growth, or a want of devel- 

 opment, such as thorns and spines, &c., exhibit. Thus, one 

 sees gigantic, copiously branched, herbaceous plants, loaded 

 with dark-green foliage, and flower-stems adorned with blos- 

 soms, glowing with every colour ; though the reds, violets 

 and yellows, are more abundant than blues and whites. The 

 bark of the trees is thin in proportion to the size of the 

 trunks, and it does not peel off' as in N. Holland, for exam- 

 ple, where the ground resembles a tan-yard, from the quan- 

 tity of bark with which it is strewed. The greater number 

 of plants are smooth and naked on their surface ; only in the 

 extratropical parts, generally speaking, and in some elevated 

 or saline situations, do we find the clothing of hair and to- 

 mentum to prevail on the leaves, or other soft herbaceous 

 parts. 



With the exception of some genera, such as ChorisiUy 

 Pachira^ Eriodendron, Bombax, Wittelsbachia, Lasiandra, 

 and many Orchidece, the flowers are not so large and magni- 

 ficent as in the Flora of Southern India, though larger than 

 is common in other tropical regions. The extraordinary 

 variability in individual plants, according to habitat, climate, 

 and age, is a characteristic of this tropical vegetation, and 

 this makes the study of the various forms not a little difficult. 

 The size and shape of the leaves, especially at the base and 

 apex, the degree of hairiness, the texture and thickness, the 

 inflorescence, the outline, (and in a less degree the colour,) 



