Char VII] COLD TEMPERATE FOREST FORMATIONS 587 



ilicifolia, Forst, Desfontainea spinosa, Ruiz et Pav., in full flower, and Pernettya 

 mucronata, Gaud., occur, and to them we may add Lebetanthus americanus, Endl. 

 Beyond these only Callixene marginata, Lam., was to be found. Ferns, on the other 

 hand, were numerously represented : here and there, Gleichenia acutifolia formed 

 colonies, and Hymenophyllaceae were more or less numerous, immersed in the 

 carpet of moss, and among them was the beautiful Hymenophyllum pectinatum, Cav. 

 The carpet of moss concealing the ground spread over all the fallen tree-trunks 



Fig. 330. 1. Fagus Dombeyi. 2. Fagus betuloides. Antarctic America. Natural size. 



and extended more or less up the trunks, which were also clad with Hymeno- 

 phyllaceae, Grammitis australis, and the tall, climbing Lebetanthus americanus, 

 Endl. 



' There is hardly any part in the world — not excepting the moistest tropical dis- 

 tricts — that exhibits a more luxuriant moss-vegetation than does the rainiest part of 

 the district we are dealing with. I can affirm, from my own experience, that the 

 luxuriant moss-vegetation of the extremely moist western slopes of the Kamerun 



