282 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



Bignoniaceae include many extremely showy creepers and trees, 

 the latter being mostly species of Tecoma, allied to the common 

 trumpet creeper. Other trees with showy flowers belong to the 

 Myrtaceae, Kubiaceae, Lecythidaceae and Bombacaceae. 



Mention has already been made of the showy-flowered lianas — 

 passion-flowers, Bignonias, Malpighiaceae, etc., and the showy 

 herbaceous plants: Heliconia, Caladium, Canna, etc. of the wet 



gapo. 



The Amazonian forest reaches its maximum development in the 

 portion of the river above its junction with the Rio Negro. Between 

 this and the foot of the Andes there is an excessively heavy rain- 

 fall, and the whole country is covered with unbroken forest which 

 ascends to 3,000-4,000 feet on the eastern side of the mountains. 



A tropical rain-forest much like that of the Amazon valley in 

 its composition is found along the eastern coast of Brazil from 

 Pernambuco southward to a point beyond the Tropic of Capri- 

 corn. This includes Rio Janeiro, and the adjacent country. 



The interior plateau rises to the east and near the coast forms an 

 escarpment which is cut by many abrupt gorges, and the edge of 

 the plateau forms two broken ranges of mountains parallel with 

 the coast. The seaward slopes of these ranges, and the coastal 

 plain, when present, receive a copious rainfall, which together with 

 uniformly high temperatures, develops a luxuriant rain-forest 

 which extends far south of the Tropic of Capricorn, but finally 

 loses its tropical character and merges with the temperate vegeta- 

 tion of the coast of Argentina. 



Forming the eastern boundary of the great Amazon basin are 

 the extensive continental highlands of Brazil, whose eastern edge 

 consists of the coastal mountain ranges already mentioned. 

 Inside this coastal mountain rim, the plateau slopes westward to 

 the Amazon valley, but is much broken up by mountain masses 

 of greater or less extent. From the mouth of the Amazon to Uru- 

 guay, this great table land is drained by many rivers belonging to 

 the Amazon system. 



The rainfall is fairly heavy over much of the plateau, but a good 

 deal of the country is semi-arid, and the vegetation more or less 

 decidedly xerophytic. Extensive savannas suited for grazing, 

 and open forest cover large areas. 



The dry open forest "caatinga" is a feature of much of the 



