NATURAL HISTORY WORK IN CART AGO 89 



that were in bloom along the track east of Cartago. It 

 included a species of Commelina; Bryophyllum calycinum; 

 the leguminous Dalea alopecuroides, poro, Indigofera anil 

 (vine with purple flowers), another unidentified vine with 

 yellow flowers, Calliandra grandiflora, a creeping sensitive 

 plant with spherical pink inflorescences and a few large 

 paired leaflets, and a mimosaceous shrub with white flowers; 

 an unidentified euphorb; Sida rhomhifolia and Anoda 

 hastata of the Malvaceae; a species of Jussiaea; the guayabo 

 (Psidium guayava) with ripe fruits on the ground beneath; 

 the common milkweed; Lantana camara; Salvia polystachya; 

 Eryngiuni carlina; Pavoncillo (Cestrum auriantiacum) and 

 three species of Solanum; and three composites, Jgeratum 

 conyzoides, Bidens pilosa and Zexmenia longipes — in all 

 twenty-five species. 



The fence trees here carried quite a number of epiphytic 

 bromeliads on their trunks, all of very small size, only two 

 or three inches long. One of the commonest was Catopsis 

 fulgens. They contained little or no water and their fauna 

 consisted of a few earwigs, cockroaches, spiders, isopods 

 and often ants. When the latter were abundant the others 

 were less likely to be present. 



The roads that climbed up the volcano, especially the 

 narrower and less traveled paths, were often fragrant with 

 the perfume of the sweet pale violets, growing in profusion 

 among the clumps of Bryophyllum, ferns and mossy stones. 

 They were well concealed and their fragrance was usually 

 the first indication of their presence. A very different road- 

 side plant, preferring sunny bare places, was a showy species 

 of Siphocampylus, growing two to three feet high with long 

 racemose inflorescences crowded with tubular red and yellow 

 flowers. We met it from the level of Tierra Blanca to the 

 Reventazon River at Juan Vifias, always on sunny exposed 

 banks. 



