BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 435 
may belong. At each side of the base of the column, there 
are two nh glandular bodies, about the size of large peas : 
do these exist in Vanilla? This Orchideous plant would 
prove a great ornament to the hothouses of Britain, and I 
shall accordingly do my best to preserve alive some of its 
fleshy tuberous roots, till I can obtain the opportunity of 
sending them home. Several Ferns also occurred, among 
which are four species of Anemia, one of them a beautiful 
little plant, found, though very rarely, on the top of a high 
Serra near this Villa; it has multipartite leaves. On the 
shady faces of calcareous rocks, grows a very pretty small 
Adiantum. Of Mosses, I have only met with one species in 
fruit, a Weissia, probably W. curvirostra (Hook.) Two Vel- 
lozie are abundant here, but neither of them is yet in flower; 
indeed I have been unfortunate with this genus, having seen 
no fewer than.six species-of it since I left Crato, not one of 
them in a flowering state. Perhaps they may occur in my 
way to Minas. The rains will probably forbid my. leaving 
the province of Goyaz, till the end of March; but by that 
time I expect to be on the Serra which divides it from Minas . 
Geraes, where I hope to find a good field for my labours. ` 
The route I shall probably follow is this. From Goyaz I 
intend to gain San Romao, on the Rio San Francisco; then, 
crossing the river, proceed up to Tejuca, and Villa do Prin- 
cipe in the Diamond district. From thence I go to Sabará, 
Gongosoca, Villa Rica, and San Joao del Rey, and thence 
again, via Barbacena and the Organ Mountains, I hope to 
gain Rio de Janeiro. I shall be unable to transmit any spe- 
cimens home, till I reach the latter place, and by that time I 
expect to have more than doubled my present stock. The 
journey is attended with considerable expense. I have now 
ten horses, and will soon require to get more. Yours, &c., 
: * G. GARDNER.” 
_. “P, S. I hope you spent a merrier Christmas than I did. 
Let alone feasting, we have enough to do to procure the 
. necessaries of life.” 
