292 RELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



spikes of yellow blossoms. In dry woods I met with Sapindus 

 esculentus, St. Hil., the fruit of which is eatable, being agreeably 

 acid ; and Gustavia aiigusta, Linn., the noble blossoms of 

 which, when expanded, are as large as those of the common 

 white water-lily {Nifmpli(ea alba), and are of a pale pink 

 colour. Here, as elsewhere in Brazil, Pteris caudata is a 

 troublesome weed in cultivated grounds. 



On Hamarica, an island near the coast, about 30 miles to the 

 north of Pernambuco, I spent a week. The whole of the island 

 nearly is bounded by a deep belt of cocoa-nut trees, and the in- 

 terior of it, which is flat, is but thinly wooded. There is not 

 much large timber, the trees being in general small, and inter- 

 mingled witli large shrubs, which in many places, where they 

 were thinly scattered, gave me more the idea of being in an 

 ICnglish orchard than the uncultivated parts of a barbarous equa- 

 torial island. The trees I found to consist chiefly of Genipapo 

 ( Genipa sp. ti.), a beautiful large tree, with dark green foliage 

 and pale yellow flowers, which produces a hard fleshy fruit about 

 the size of an apple, which, when rotten, the inhabitants eat 

 along witli sugar ; the Cashew {Anacardium occidentale), of 

 which the curious fruit was ripe, the juice of the large receptacle 

 on which the nut is placed atfording me a refreshing beverage 

 during my walks into the country ; also the Mangaha {Han- 

 cornia speciosa) was fully as abundant as at Olinda. The 

 Curatella americana is also common, particularly in dry, open, 

 rather elevated places. Some of the shrubs met with were 

 particularly beautiful, especially a Byrsonima about 12 feet 

 high, with broad woolly leaves, and spikes of yellow flowers ; 

 and a Gomphia nearly of the same size, and bearing large 

 panicles of equally golden-coloured blossoms. Some of the dry 

 hilly places were covered with a new species of Ixina, and on 

 the sandy shores I met with Polyyala cyparissias, St. Hil., 

 and immense quantities of Sophora tomentosa, reaching to the 

 height of from 8 to 12 feet, and beautifully in flower, while on 

 rocky parts of the coast Jacquinia anniUaris was equally 

 common. 



The following plants still remain to be introduced as orna- 

 ments to our hothouses : — 



1. Cochlospermum serratifolium, D. C. Grows in a dry 

 sandy soil. 



2. Eschweilera sp. 7i. This is the smallest species of tlie 

 natural order to which it belongs {Lecythis) that I have seen 

 producing flowers. It would not only be very ornamental, but 

 also a great botanical curiosity from the remarkable structure of 

 its flowers. It grows in sandy places. 



3. Hancornia speciosa, Gomez. The fruit of tliis plant, I 



