278 RELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



of his native country. They flower in the months of April and 

 May, at which season the atmosphere around them is loaded 

 with the rich perfume of their small white flowers. When their 

 fruit is ripe, it forms the principal food of the Jacutinga {Pe- 

 nelope Jacutinga, Spix.), a fine large game bird. Some of the 

 very largest trees of the forest are species of Ficus, one of which, 

 with an enormous height and thickness of stem, is called by the 

 English the buttress-tree, from several large thin plates which 

 stand out from the bottom of the stem like buttresses. They 

 begin to jut out from the stem at tlie height of from 10 to 14 

 feet from the bottom, and gradually increase in breadth till they 

 reach the ground, when they are connected with the large roots 

 of the tree. At the ground these plants are often 5 feet broad, 

 and little more than half a foot in thickness. The large Cassias 

 have a fine appearance when in flower, and as almost an equal 

 number of Pleroma Fontanesianum, and other trees belonging 

 to the same natural order (Melastomads) are in flower at the 

 same time, the forests are then almost one mass of yellow and 

 purple from the abundance of such trees. Rising amid these, the 

 large pink-coloured flowers of Chorisia speciosa, St. Ilil., can be 

 easily distinguished. This is a large tree, with a stem covered 

 with strong prickles, about 6 feet in circumference, unbranched 

 to the height of from 40 to 50 feet. The branches then form a 

 nearly hemispherical top, which, when covered with thousands of 

 its beautiful large blossoms, has a striking eflfect as contrasted 

 with the masses of green, yellow, and purple, of the surround- 

 ing trees. Many of these large trunks afford support to various 

 species of climbing and twining shrubers belonging to the natu- 

 ral orders Bignoniads, Composites, Dogbanes, Leguminosce, 

 Menispermads, &c. The stems of these climbers often assume a 

 very remarkable appearance, several of them are often twisted to- 

 gether, and dangle from the boughs of the trees like ropes, 

 while others are flat and compressed like belts ; one of these, a 

 species of Mimosa, I have often seen more than 6 inches broad, 

 and not more than an inch thick. Two of the finest of the 

 climbers are the beautiful large-flowered Solandra grandijlora, 

 which, diffusing itself among the branches of the largest trees 

 of the forest, gives them a magnificence not their own ; and 

 Fuchsia integrifolia, which is very common, attaching itself to 

 all kinds of trees, and often reaching to a height of from 40 to 

 100 feet. Since my first visit to the Organ Mountains this plant 

 has been introduced to the gardens of England by my friend 

 Mr. Miers, but there it does not seem to flower so freely as in 

 its native woods. Perhaps this may arise from letting it have 

 too much heat. That it will stand a great deal of cold is obvious 

 from the fact that I found it inhabiting every region from 3000 



