A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



contained moisture. In other Orchids the leaves are thin, and the 

 reservoirs take the form of tuberous thickenings of the stalk. 



Orchids which grow on the branches of trees have no moist earth 

 beneath them, and are thus obhged, Hke the Cacti, which are 

 natives of dry and sun-steeped areas, to take up the necessary 

 moisture and protect it from evaporation. And the more effective 

 their reservoirs, the higher can they cHmb the trees, and the better 

 can they endure the immediate rays of the sun. Those which are able 

 to flourish far overhead in the forest are, as Schimper observed, best 

 able to migrate into the dry plains. 



Just as epiphytic Orchids are able to adopt the habits of the 

 Cacti, so, conversely, can the latter become epiphytic. In the forest 

 of Alto da Serra there are tree-dwelling Cacti everywhere and at 

 all levels. These belong to the family of the Whip Cacti (Rhipsalis). 

 They look as though someone had stuck bunches of twigs into the 

 bark of the trees. The Brazilians liken the shoots of this Cactus — 

 which are often of considerable length, and as thick as a finger — 

 to rats' tails, and call it "rabo de rato." Birds perch on the Whip 

 Cactus, eat the fruits, and excrete the seed with their droppings. 



Brazil must be richer in Orchids than any other country in the 

 world. According to Warburg, it possesses 800 species of Epidendron, 

 400 of Oncidium, 200 of Maxillaria, and 150 of Odontoglossum. 

 Oncidium flexuosum blooms so profusely in the State of Sao Paulo 

 about Christmas that one can pick great armfuls of the flowers. 

 The forest of Alto de Serra is full of blossoming Orchids about this 

 season. I saw there one species which had laid its leaves, which were 

 about the size of a halfpenny, flat against the trunk of the supporting 

 tree, in order to protect the underlying roots from drought; it had 

 small brown bell-flowers. Another kind, Pleurotallis stenopetala, puts 

 forth a slender yellow inflorescence like a heron's crest. In Pernam- 

 buco the Trizeuxis surprises one by its yellowish-brown, fantastically- 

 shaped flowers. There I came across the Vanilla, which twines its 

 way up the tree-trunks with its green, sappy stem and long fleshy 

 leaves; a very pretty sight. The Vanilla belongs to the Orchid 

 family, and has become a liana. 



Less numerous indeed than the Orchids, but more striking 

 because much larger, are the Bromelias, which the Brazilians call 

 Gravatas. They give the virgin forest of Brazil a character of its own, 

 and whenever I think of that beautiful country the great green 

 rosettes and fleshy leaves rise before my eyes, perched on the boughs 

 and the trees, now singly, now in long rows (Plates 18, 27, 28). The 

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