iiO MARTIUS ON THE BOTANY OF BRAZIL, 



than systematically in the number of the prevalent plants 

 and families of plants. But as each of these peculiar masses 

 of plants have their limits, and pass into another, so is their 

 character blended and changed. Von Martius distinguishes 

 five principal regions which were first recorded by him in 

 the ^^ Agrostographia Brasiliensis." — 1. Regio extra-tropica, or 

 valleculosa, most of which is hilly country beyond the southern 

 tropics. 2. Regio montana, or montano-campestris, the high 

 land covered with fields, o. Regio montano-nemorosa^ or 

 wooded mountain-land. 4. Regio calido-sicca, the dry north- 

 ern district. 5. Regio calido-humida, the moist equatorial 

 district. 



I. Regio extra-tropica South Brazil beyond the tropic 



of Capricorn to Monte Video, and to the river La Plata. 

 The plants of this district Martius designates by the general 

 name of Napaece. The country is either plain or gently un- 

 dulated, rarely rising into mountains (scarcely ever exceed- 

 ing 1600 feet high)- It is, however, tolerably well watered, 

 although many of the lesser streams dry up annually, entirely 

 or in part. The mountain-formation is partly granite, 

 gneiss, and sienite ; partly, especially in the more southern 

 districts, the trap-formation prevails. The forests are only 

 numerous in the raoi'e southern districts ; and here you see a 

 vast extent of the Brazilian Pines, Araucaria Brasiliana. 

 The farther you proceed to the south, the forests become 

 more rare; and, mingled with the American, we find the 

 European forms of vegetation. On the other side the Plate 

 river this region passes into the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 

 which extends from thence to Cordova, and to the eastern 

 sides of the Andes of Chili. The tropical forms of the 

 Brazilian vegetation descend here and there in this district 

 along the rivers that flow from the north, but lose themselves 

 the more as you go into the interior from the coast. This 

 region has been particularly investigated by Messrs Auguste 

 de St Hilaire and Sellow. 



II. Regio Montana, or montano-campestris. — Under 

 this head are included that of the great Brazilian mountain- 



