VOL 6, Tabs. 505, 506, - 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 57 
bringing to the camp a handfull of branches, covered with 
leaves, with which, after holding them for some time over. 
the fire, to render them crisp, he made a kind of tea 
for himself and his companions. From the fruit Mr. 
Gardner detected that it was a Symplocos, one species of 
which, the S. Alstonia, Humboldt states is employed for 
making tea in New Grenada, while a closely allied = 
Visnea (Visnea Mocanera) serves a similar purpose in the 
Canary Islands. The affinity of the genus Symplocos with 
Eurya, and consequently with the true Tea (Thea), has 
already been noticed by Botanists, and the habit is very 
similar. In many parts of Brazil, however, as in Paraguay, 
Tea, under the name of Congonha, is made by the infusion | 
of Ilex Parayuayensis, abundant in the woods. During 
the same journey, shortly after leaving Tapanhuacanga, 
the most common tree observed was of the natural family 
of Labiate, which with us only forms herbaceous plants 
or small shrubs; here it was the Hyptis membranacea, Benth., 
which attains a height of from 20 to 30 feet, and is the 
largest of the Labiaie in Brazil. : 
We shall lastly mention the beautiful and singular Ufri- 
cularia (U. nelumbifolia,* Gardn.), remarkable no less for 
its large size (2 to 24 feet high) than for its place of growth. 
Like our Bladder-roots, it is aquatic; but is only found ^ grow- 
ing in the water which collects in the hollow bases of the 
leaves of a large Tillandsia, that inhabits abundantly an arid 
rocky part of the Organ Mountains, at an elevation of about 
5000 feet above the level of the sea. Besides the ordinary 
method, by seed, the Utricularia is propagated by runners, 
which it throws out from the base of the flower-stem ; ha == 
runner is always found directing itself towards the nearest - : 
Tillandsia, when it inserts its point in the water, and gives ——— 
origin to a new plant, which, in its turn, emits another shoot pe 
in this manner not less than six plants may be seen unit 
each deriving support fom the water contained | 
RP /* See a figure of this rare pl 
> VOL. AB 
