THE SOUTH TEMPERATE ZOM. 355 



Homeria, are sometimes seen growing along the railway embank- 

 ments and elsewhere. Homeria is said to be poisonous, and may 

 be ranked as a weed. A showy yellow Oxalis (0. cernua) has also 

 run wild, and the "Cape-weed" {Cryptostemma calendulacea) 

 covers acres with its light yellow daisy flowers. 1 



Temperate South America 



The transition from the tropical regions of Brazil to temper 

 Argentina and Uruguay is very gradual. Southern Brazil extends 

 beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, and the highlands have a climate 

 not unlike that of parts of South Africa. Like the South African 

 plateau, the rain, which is much heavier than in central Africa. 

 falls mostly in summer, and very hot summers contrast with 

 relatively cold winters. 



Much of the country is open grass-land, but the valleys show a 

 luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation, and there are many beautiful 

 flowering trees, shrubs and creepers, some of which are not rare in 

 cultivation. Among these may be mentioned, the beautiful Jac- 

 aranda, with its masses of blue flowers, and graceful foliage; the 

 gorgeous orange Bignonia venusta, and the purple Bougainvillea. 



Southern Brazil is also the home of an Araucaria (A. Brazilimm), 

 a very peculiar genus of conifers, confined to South America 

 and the Australian region. This tree forms pure stands, like the 

 northern pines, and associated with it is an undergrowth of "mal 

 {Ilex Paraguayensis), a shrub of the holly family, whose lea\ 

 yield the mate tea, extensively used by the natives, and now- 

 beginning to be an article of export. 



Among the sub-tropical types of southern Brazil and northern 

 Argentina, are various palms, some of which are in cultivation, 

 like Cocos plumosa and C. datil, often seen in southern California. 



Paraguay, like southern Brazil, has a sub-tropical climate with 

 abundant precipitation especially in the eastern portion, so that 

 there are luxuriant forests mainly of evergreen trees, but with 

 predominantly deciduous species on the drier soils. Westward 

 the forest becomes more restricted in its range and is interspersed 

 with open prairies, with some palms and scattered thickets.'- The 



1 For a fuller :u-oount of tin- Australasian vegetation, Bee the writer's pa] 

 in the American Journal of Botany, Vol. X, January, April. December, 192 



2 Hardy, M. E., Geography of Plants, < Oxford, 1920, p. 1 5 



