194 KELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. ' 



purple blossoms. The hedges by the roadsides — which are 

 mostly formed of Acacias, Mimosas, Opuntias, Pereskias, and 

 not unfrequently of Limes — are festooned with innumerable 

 climbers, the many-tinted blossoms of which, while they gratify 

 the sight, equally regale the sense of smell by the delicious 

 odours they exhale. They chieHy consist of various species of 

 Convolvulus and Ipomcea, Ruhus urticifolius, Dalechampia, 

 Mikania, Aristolochia, Paulinia, Bignonia, Passijiora, and 

 species of Cucurbits. It must, however, be observed that all 

 these do not flower at once, but present a continual succession 

 of bloom. 



My first visit to the virgin forests, which cover the mountains, 

 was made along the great aqueduct by which water is conveyed 

 to the city, and which is several miles in length. It winds round 

 from behind the mountain called the Corcovado, which rises to 

 the height of about 2000 feet above the level of the sea. From 

 this excursion I returned loaded with the novelties which it pro- 

 duced. The ascent was made from the Larangeiras valley, at 

 the foot of which there grow some fine large trees of a thorny- 

 stemmed silk-cotton-tree (^Bombax). By the side of the aque- 

 duct, on its lower levels, there exists a fine variety of flowering 

 shrubs, consisting of Amphirox longifolia and Alsodea panicu- 

 lata, both belonging to the Order of Violets ; Metternichia 

 Principis, the beautiful Stiftia chrysantha, the odoriferous Si- 

 maba glandulifera, Pleroma Fontanesianum, and several other 

 species of the same genus — Solarium argenteum, Lacistema pu- 

 bescens, &c. At a greater elevation, in shady valleys, and in ra- 

 vines by the side of little streams, many curious little shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants presented themselves. On the banks of one little 

 stream I found two varieties of Dorstenia ceratosanthes, one of 

 them with entire leaves, resembling those of D. asarifolia ; and 

 in dried parts of the same wood a new caulescent species (I). 

 hisjrida, Hook.). It was near this spot also that I first saw a 

 Tree-Fern : it was the elegant Trichopteris excelsa, which 

 grows both abundantly and luxuriantly beneath the shade of the 

 lofty trees in the dense forest ; but it does not reach to a great 

 height, its stem seldom rising above twelve feet. Under its 

 shade grew many kinds of herbaceous ferns, the most elegant of 

 which, as well as the most common, was Bidymochltena sinuosa. 

 In his work on the Cryptogamia of Brazil, Martins represents 

 this as a tall Tree-Fern, but in the diflferent parts of Brazil where 

 I have observed it, I have never seen it with a stem more than 

 H foot in height. The forest here exhibited all the character- 

 istics of tropical vegetation. The rich black soil which has been 

 forming for centuries in the hollows, from the decay of leaves, 

 &c., is covered with, besides the plants already mentioned, 



