﻿48 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



BOTANICAL EXPEDITION TO BRAZIL 



The flora of eastern Brazil is of especial interest to the student of 

 tropical North American plants. Only a few botanical collections 

 were made in the tropics of North America until after an important 

 scientific expedition to Brazil had made known much of the flora of 

 eastern Brazil and part of the valley of the Amazon. Brazil, the 

 West Indies, and Panama have many species of plants in common. 



The Brazilian expedition referred to was sent, under the leadership 

 of Von Martins, by Francis I of Austria as an honorary escort to 

 his daughter. Leopoldina, on her voyage to Brazil to marry the crown 

 prince of Portugal and Brazil, the man later known as the " Libera- 

 tor," Pedro I of Brazil. Martins and Spix. after a few months about 

 Rio de Janeiro, went to Sao Paulo and from there made their way 

 northward through Minas Geraes and Bahia to Piauhy and Maranhao 

 on the north coast, crossing Rio Sao Francisco at Joazeiro. They 

 then traveled up the Amazon to some distance beyond Tefife ( or Ega). 



The Amazon and other parts of Brazil have since been explored 

 and the U. S. National Herbarium has, by exchange, come in for a 

 share of the plants collected, but there was no U. S. National 

 Herbarium at the time of Martins and but little has since been col- 

 lected, at least of grasses, in the region he traversed in the interior. 

 For this reason, it seemed important to collect material from this 

 region, and late in 1924, Mrs. Agnes Chase, assistant agrostologist 

 of the National Herbarium, was detailed for this purpose. 



Arriving in Rio de Janeiro on November i, Mrs. Chase first col- 

 lected on Corcovado, here procuring many of the species first de- 

 scribed from this mountain by Raddi. In spite of the dense popula- 

 tion in the lowlands, the mountains about Rio de Janeiro have not 

 been spoiled for the botanist. Except for the invasion in places of 

 Melinis niinutiHora, called " capim gordura " (molasses grass, by us), 

 an African species early introduced into Brazil, the steep jungly 

 slopes are probably not greatly changed from what they were a 

 hundred years ago. 



Four days after landing, Mrs. Chase left for Pernamluico in order to 

 reach that region before the dry season was much advanced. Pernam- 

 buco, or Recife, as the city is commonly called, lies on flat ground built 

 up by coral reefs and mangroves. The surrounding region is densely 

 populated. Wooded hills which at a distance showed no signs of 

 being inhabited turned out to be full of huts and goats and children. 

 In little clearings were patches of maize and beans, and a few bananas 

 and sometimes oranges. Vetiveria was planted about many of the 



