252 EELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 



Eriocaulons^ several Ferns, one of tliein a fine Cassebeera (C. 

 gleichenioides, Gardn.), a slender Wahlenbergia, the only 

 Campcmulaceous plant I met with during the whole of my 

 travels in Brazil ; numerous species of Vaccinium, or rather 

 Gaylussacias, one of them a truly splendid plant with long 

 crimson flowers ; two species of Physocalyx, on bare rocks ; 

 abundance of the purple-flowered Lselia, which I previously met 

 with, two species of jRubus, a Kielmcyera, a Vochi/sia, numerous 

 Composites, such as Verno?iias, various remarkable kinds of 

 erect Mikania, several of Baccharis, Trixis, Albertitiia, the 

 strange Lychnoceplialus tomentosus, Mart., and many kinds of 

 Lychnophora. These latter, together with the Vellozias, are 

 so abundant and so peculiar in habit, that tliey give quite a 

 character to the Diamond country. Tlie Vellozias were well 

 named by Martins when he called them tree-lilies. They vary 

 very much in size, often reaching to the height of twelve feet 

 and upwards. The large ones are not unlike screw-pines in 

 habit. Their stems, which are little more than a loose tissue of 

 roots, and which show beautifully the plan upon which all stems 

 are formed, rise several feet before they branch, and when they 

 do so it is in a diciiotomous manner. They are destitute of 

 leaves, except at the ends of the branches, where a long tuft of 

 them exists. The flowers spring out of the centre of these, and 

 are thrown free of the leaves by being borne upon a long pe- 

 duncle. The flowers of the larger species are about six inches 

 long, and in shape not unlike those of Lilium candidum. Seldom 

 have I seen an object more beautiful than one of these when in 

 full bloom. I was the first to introduce this genus to the hot- 

 houses of England, but as they were I'aised from seeds, and as 

 they are but slow of growth, and impatient of cultivation, it 

 may reasonably be supposed that they will be a long time before 

 exhibiting tlie beauty of their wild progenitors. The soil in 

 which they grow in their native country is generally of a fer- 

 ruginous gravelly nature, and well drained ; and the climate is 

 one of the clearest and coolest in tropical Brazil. Those which 

 I collected near the Cidade Diamantina, as well as all the other 

 plants I have mentioned, were found where the thermometer 

 ranged from 54^ to 60° Fahr. The only trees in tlie vicinity 

 of the city are cultivated ones, and the most handsome of them 

 all was the noble Araucaria Braziliensis, some of which must 

 have been about sixty or seventy feet high. I was particularly 

 struck with two plants, which grew profusely in most places, and 

 by roadsides round the city — two exiles from Europe, Urtica 

 urens, Linn., and Arctium Lappa, Linn. The time may come, 

 when Bi'azil has botanists of her own, that they will claim these 

 as true denizens of their soil, in the same manner that some of the 



