BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 201 



nity. None, however, occurred, till I went clown to Rio 

 myself, when I found a siiip just about to sail, and was for- 

 tunate enough to get them put on board. ISIy collections 

 from Minas, and from this province, I shall take home along 

 with myself. In the course of a month or so I expect to get 

 a ship to take me to Liverpool : if not then, I must go home 

 in a vessel bound for London. I would much prefer an op- 

 portunity for the former place, on account of my cases of 

 living plants. 



" To-morrow I start on an excursion of eight or ten days 

 towards the banks of the Parahiba, in the hopes of meeting 

 with some OrcMdece, which must there be very different from 

 those which grow on the mountains. For some time past I 

 have been expecting letters from you, and my other friends, 

 but I now begin to imagine that I need expect no more, on 

 account of your thinking that I am by this time on my way 

 home. 



" George Gardner." 



Rio de Janeiro, 5(h Maij, 1841. 



" My Dear Sir, 



" It is now about a fortnight since I had the great 

 pleasure of receiving your kind letter of 18th January. I 

 returned from the Organ Mountains about ten days ago, 

 bringing with me a splendid collection of living plants prin- 

 cipally from the upper ranges. Among them I may mention 

 Luxemburgia ciliata, Franciscea hydrangeaformis, Prepusa 

 connata, Prepusa Hookeriana, which is a great beauty, and I 

 have an abundant supply of both dried specimens and living 

 plants, two species of Fuschia, a Bovgainvilka, Lavoisiera 

 imhricata, a beautiful Escallonia, from the summit of the 

 mountain, some fine Lobelias, and G€sneriace<s belonging to 

 several of the new genera of Martius; Euterpe eduUs, Mart., 

 which is the Cabbage Palm of Brazil, some half-dozen species 

 o^ Salvia, a fine herbaceous Composita belonging to Mutisiece, 

 (about six feet high, with orange-coloured flowers, not unlike 



Vol. IV.— No. 28. 2 c 



