284 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



heaw forest Ferns, mosses and liverworts become much more 

 abundant in the Andean mountain forests, and become extraor- 

 dinarily developed, a phenomenon to be noted everywhere in the 



tropi« s. 



Spruce found the development of mosses and liverworts especi- 

 ally great in the region known as the "montana of Canelos," 

 in the neighborhood of the great volcanoes of Cotopaxi and Tung- 

 uragua. This forest which extends from 1,000-5,000 ft. elevation 

 is wry wet. and Spruce says the growth of these plants is the 

 most luxuriant he had ever seen. "Even the topmost twigs and 

 the very leaves were shaggy with mosses and from the branches 

 overhanging the river depended festoons of several feet in length 

 composed chiefly of Bryopterides ... in beautiful fruit." 



So great is the load of mosses, that when soaked with water they 

 often broke off the branches to which they were attached. 



A very interesting plant of this forest was a giant horse-tail 

 Equisetum sp.) t twenty feet high and with a stem almost as thick 

 as one's wrist. 



Palms are common in these mountain forests, but less varied 

 than in the lowlands. The commonest species is Iriartea ventri- 

 cosa. which forms extensive groves. Species of Wettinia and 

 Euterpe are also characteristic of the Canelos forests, and also 

 the vegetable-ivory palm (Phytelephas sp.). 



The most important trees of the Andean forest are several 

 species of Cinchona yielding quinine. Spruce's long sojourn in 

 this region was mainly for the purpose of securing young plants 

 and seeds of the most valuable species, the "Red-bark" (C suc- 

 cirubra). Different species are found at elevations from 2500 to 

 10,000 feet iccirubra growing from 2,500 to 5,000 ft. The plants 



and seeds sent by Spruce to England marked the beginning of 

 the cultivation of Cinchona in the tropical British colonies, which, 

 however, have never met with the success of the plantations in the 

 Dutch East Indies, especially Java, which now furnishes a large 

 part of the world's supply of the drug. There are now, also, 

 plantations of Cinchona in Colombia and other parts of the An- 

 dean region. The family Rubiaceae, to which Cinchona belongs, 

 has furnished another plant of great importance, viz., coffee, 

 now grown in immense quantities in southern Brazil, which fur- 

 nishes the greater part of the commercial product. 



