90 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



ain constantly putting, " What do you call this tree or 

 flower ? ' And if you ask a botanist, he invariably gives 

 you the scientific, not the popular name, nor does he seem 

 to be aware that any such exists. I have a due respect for 

 nomenclature, but when I inquire the name of some very 

 graceful tree or some exquisite flower, I like to receive a 

 manageable answer, something that may fitly be introduced 

 into the privacy of domestic life, rather than the ponderous 

 official Latin appellation. We are struck with the variety 

 of Melastomas in full flower now, and very conspicuous, 

 from their large purple blossoms, and have remarked also 

 several species of the Bombacea3, easily distinguished by 

 their peculiar foliage and large cotton fruits. The Cande- 

 labra-tree (Cecropia) is abundant here, as throughout the 

 neighborhood of Rio, and is covered at this season with 

 fruit resembling somewhat the fruit of the bread- tree, but 

 more slender and cylindrical in form. Large Euphorbias, 

 of the size of forest-trees, also attract our attention, for 



4 



it is the first time we have seen them except as shrubs, 

 such as the " Estrella do Norte" (Poinsettia). But there 

 is before Mr. Bennett's house a very large nut-tree, " No- 

 gueira," of this family. The palms are numerous ; among 

 them the Astrocaryum Cari, whose spiny stems and leaves 

 make it difficult to approach, is very common. Its bunches 

 of bright chestnut-brown fruit hang from between the leaves 

 which form its crown, each bunch about a foot in length, 

 massive and compact, like a large cluster of black Hamburg 

 grapes. The Syagrus palm is also frequent ; it has a 

 greenish fruit not unlike the olive in appearance, also 

 hanging in large pendent bunches just below the leaves. 

 The mass of foliage is everywhere knit together by parasitic 

 vines without number, and every dead branch or fallen 



