305 



NOTICES RESPECTING THE BOTANY OF CER- 

 TAIN COUNTRIES VISITED BY THE RUS- 

 SIAN VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY UNDER THE 

 COMMAND OF CAPT. KOTZEBUE. By Ad. 



DE ChAMISSO. 



[ Translated from the German Edition of the Voyage.'] 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLES. 



The beautiful woods which clothe the mountains and valleys 

 of these islands with the most luxuriant green, descend also 

 to the very brink of the sea, in groves of Mangle Trees {Rhizo- 

 phora), and some other species. The transitory glance which 

 we were enabled to gain of these forests from the public route, 

 and the short distance to which we penetrated their recesses, 

 are insufficient to enable us to describe them properly. Fig 

 Trees appeared to be the prevailing kind of wood: some species 

 supporting themselves as strong trees by their singularly 

 interwoven stems and running roots, by which they clasp the 

 rocks and twine over them. Other plants, of very slender 

 stalks, raise themselves to an astonishing height, and while 

 their leafy summits are lost above the leafy roof of tiie grove, 

 their singular fruit is seen bursting from the lower part of 

 their trunks. Some species retain a frutescent habit, while 

 others climb. We missed in the woods the beautiful forms 

 of the Acacia Trees, with their variously pinnated leaves; but 

 numerous other genera of Leguminous Plants here exhibit 

 their peculiar characteristics. The Ferns, (particularly the 

 arborescent ones,) tlie Climbers, the Orchideae, which, in 

 Brazil, form almost self-supported gardens in the air, slightly 

 attached to the summits of the trees, are here either entirely 

 wanting, as the Cacti and BromeliacecB, or appear in very 

 diminished numbers. The character which Nature wears is 

 of a much tamer kind. The species of Palm are more 

 numerous than in St. Catherine's, many of them are but 

 inconspicuous, and the slender prostrate Rotang is indeed the 

 most wonderful of them all. Amongst the Aroideae is the 



