ON THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS. 277 



the pastures which exist on the Organ Mountains are artificial. 

 The shrubs whicli spring up most commonly are various species of 

 Melastomads, Myrtleblooms^ Croton, Cinchonads, Leguminosce, 

 Solanimi, Ardisiads, Samijds, Vismea, Ltmtatia, Mallow-worts, 

 &o. The sufFruticose and herbaceous plants, which are to be 

 met with in greatest abundance in pasture lands, consist of 

 numerous kinds of Composites, embracing species of Vernonia, 

 £Jupatori?im, Baccharis, &c. ; a few of Hyptis, Peltodon, 

 Cinchonads, and Ferns : of the latter Pteris caudata is by far the 

 most common as well as the most troublesome. In cultivated 

 lands the plants most commonly met with are a species of Phy- 

 tolacca, Sonchus oleraceus, Tagetes minuta, different species 

 of Capsicum, Ageratum conyzoides, a repent species of Poly- 

 gonum, Chenopods, Richardsonia scabra, Stellaria media, 

 &c. In places which have been cleared and afterwards allowed 

 to run to waste, called Capoeras by the Brazilians, the plants 

 which spring up are of quite a different character from those 

 which originally grew there. They consist principally of 

 several species of Pleroma and other plants belonging to the 

 natural order of Melastomads, an arboreous Vernonia, and species 

 of Inga, Cassia, Solanum, Croton, Myrsine, ^giphila, Myrtle- 

 blooms, Lantana, Cerasus, Ruhus, Clethra, Cestrum, and par- 

 ticularly by the sides of streams, Datura arhorea. Among 

 these gi'ow many herbaceous plants, and climbing species of 

 Composites and Leguminosce, with occasionally Fuchsia integri- 

 folia. Ilex Paraguayensis, the leaves of which form the cele- 

 brated Paraguay tea, is also found sparingly in such situations. 

 Where the ground is rather swampy, a fine species of Talauma 

 ( T. fragrantissima. Hook) is not unfrequent ; it forms a tree 

 from 15 to 40 feet high, and its large green leaves and large 

 pale yellow flowers render it one of the most striking trees I 

 have ever met with. The flowers are highly odoriferous, and a 

 single tree may be discovered by the sense of smell alone at a 

 distance of more than half a mile when the wind blows in the 

 direction from it. Several species of Laurus are also found in 

 similar situations. 



The trees of the virgin forests, so far as I was able to ascer- 

 tain, consist for the most part of numerous species of Palms, 

 Laurus, Ficus, Cassia, Bignonia, and Solanum. Chorisia 

 speciosa, St. Hil.,and many Myrtaceous trees also abound in the 

 dense forest. Among the latter I found three species of Cam- 

 pomanesia, one of wluch (6\ hirsuta, Gardn.) produces a large 

 fleshy fruit which is very acid, and is used by the English resi- 

 dents to make gooseberry-fool of. The various species of Laurus 

 are fine large trees, and, both in regard to habit and the 

 formation of their fruit, they remind the European of the oaks 



