ILLUSTRATIONS (31). MYRTLES. 343 



on the banks of the Magdalena river, from Mahates to Bo- 

 jorque, and which, according to the report of the natives, had 

 only spread thus far within a few years, may also be identical 

 with S. Humboldtiana. At the confluence of the Magdalena 

 with the Rio Opon, we found all the islands covered with 

 Willo\vs, many of which had stems 64 feet high, with a diameter 

 of from only 8 to 10 inches.* Lindley has made us acquainted 

 with a species of Salix belonging to Senegal, and therefore to the 

 equinoctial region of Africa. f Blume also found two species 

 of Willow near the equator in Java, one wild and indigenous 

 in the island (/S. fetrasperma), and another cultivated (S. 

 Sieboldiana). I am only acquainted with the two Willows 

 belonging to the south temperate zone, which have been 

 described by Thunberg (S. hirsuta and S. mucronata). They 

 grow interpersed with Protea argentea, which has the same 

 physiognomy as the Willow, and their leaves and young 

 branches constitute the food of the hippopotamus of the 

 Orange River. The family of Willows is entirely wanting in 

 Australia and the neighbouring islands. 



(31) p. 229" The Myrtle Form." 



The Myrtle is a graceful plant, with stiff, shining, crowded, 

 and generally entire and small leaves marked with dots. 

 Myrtles impart a peculiar character to three regions of the 

 earth, viz., to southern Europe, more especially to the islands 

 composed of calcareous rocks and trachytic stone, which pro- 

 ject from the basin of the Mediterranean ; to the continent of 

 New Holland, which is adorned with Eucalyptus, Metrosideros, 

 and Leptospermum ; and to an intertropical region in Ube 

 Andes of South America, part of which is a low plain, while 

 the remainder lies at an elevation of from 9000 to more than 

 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. This Alpine region, 

 called in Quito the Paramos, is entirely covered with trees 

 having a Myrtle-like aspect, even though they may not all 

 belong to the Myrtacese. At this elevation grow Escalonia 

 myrtilloides, E. tubar, Simplocos Alstonia, species of Myrica, 

 and the lovely Myrtus microphylla, of which we have given 

 a drawing in our Plantes equinoxiales, t. i. p. 21, pi. iv.; it 

 grows on micaceous schist, at an elevation of 10,000 feet 

 on the Paramo de Saraguru, (near Vinayacu and Alto de 



* Humboldt et Kunth. Nova Gen. Plant., t. ii. p. 22, Tab. 99. 

 f Lindley, Introd. to the Natural System of Botany, p. 99. 



