280 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



trees which make up the forest are Bombax, Clusia rosea, Cecropia, 

 Inga, Gihbertia, Linociera, and the palms Acrocomia, Oredoxa, and 

 Bactris, all these being trees of a more or less straight trunk. The 

 crooked trees of 500 m. altitude or more are Guettarda, Hellia, Pisonia, 

 Nectandra, Phoebe, Psychotria, and Clusia lutea. At the summit 

 of the mountain are the dwarfed Clusia lutea, the wide-spreading 

 Blakea, Vaccinium, and Myrcia. 



Among the trees of the lower altitudes there is little undergrowth, 

 consisting of the ferns or orchids. At an altitude of 400 m. on the 

 San Juan trail there is a small marshy area covered with Helicon ia 

 Bihai and at one side is Acalypha. At an altitude of 500 m. in the 

 Asimcion valley, that is, the northeast side of the island, there is con- 

 siderable undergrowth. In the woods, Dioscorea, Smilax, Piper; 

 by the "rios," Athyrocarpus, Costus, Calathea, Renealmia; and on 

 the rocks and trees, Philodendron, Anthurium, and Dieffenbachia, 

 together with many terrestrial and epiphytic ferns and orchids, may be 

 found. Various members of the Gramineae are scattered throughout 

 the woods. In open thickly grown places is Scleria bracteata; by 

 rivulets are Cyi^erus, Scirpus, Eleocharis, and a few other Cyj^eraceae. 

 Drymonia serrulata is one of the vines among the trees by the "rio." 

 Gonzalugania and Chiococca micrantha at lower altitudes have slender 

 ascending or climbing habits. Above 500 m. the melastomaceous 

 Clidemia and Miconia are to be found. The deep ravines are char- 

 acterized by the abundance of ferns, especially one ravine by the tree- 

 fern, Cyathea. 



The wooded mountain top between 600 and 700 m. has practically 

 no undergrowth. The low trees already mentioned are crooked and 

 crowded together. They are covered with moss which is saturated 

 with moisture. On the trunks may be found Polypodium jubaeforme 

 and Xiphopteris serrulata, but practically nothing else, unless it is Lyco- 

 podium and mosses. Above 700 m. or on the exposed part of the 

 mountain top is a great variety of plants. The bromeliaceous genus 

 Glomeropitcairnia is found growing thickly over parts of the top. 

 The delicate Utricularia is abundant in the rich and moist humus. 

 The tiny shrub Sauvagesia, the \dne Echites, and the sprawling 

 Epidendrum secundum, the erect Epidendrum nocturnum, the beautiful 

 Centropogon, several passion-flowers, the gentian Coutoubea, the 

 silver fern and several sedges cover the top of the mountain. Such 

 in general is the distribution of the plants according to regions. 



