248 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



search for additional specimens of Peripatus in the same 

 potrero at Turrialba on October 2 was unsuccessful. 



In one of these potreros was a jicara {Crescentia cujete) 

 whose branches were intertwined with those of a manzana 

 rosa {Jambosa vulgaris or Eugenia jamhosa). The leaves 

 of the former were rounded at the tip, those of the manzana 

 acutely pointed. The single fruits of the jicara, which were 

 still bright green, were as much as six or eight inches long, 

 oval or egg-shaped; they contained many small seeds and 

 the hard rind makes them useful "gourds" when the seeds 

 are cleaned away, although the actual relationship is with 

 the Bignoniacese, the family of the trumpet vine and the 

 catalpa. The fruits of the manzana rosa resemble the 

 guayabo, both belonging to the Myrtaceae, but are com- 

 monly eaten raw instead of being made into dulces. The 

 flesh has a pleasant flavor, suggesting a rather dry sweet 

 apple — hence the name of "manzana" or apple. 



In the pastures were many clumps of trees of two or more 

 species, one of which had produced numerous aerial roots 

 which, running off sidewise from the trunk at right angles, 

 clung to and encircled the trunks of the others, binding them 

 all firmly together. Smaller trees or vines tightly wrapped 

 their branches around the trunks of larger ones and the 

 whole formed an inextricable mass. A common binding 

 plant was the vine Monstera, often cultivated in greenhouses 

 at home and remarkable for the large natural holes in its 

 big deep green leaves. Trees loaded heavily with parasitic 

 plants or epiphytes like Monstera, bromeliads, huge masses 

 of long hanging ferns, great festoons of vine-like aroids with 

 heart-shaped leaves, made this potrero exceedingly inter- 

 esting. Here also, at the highest altitude at which we saw 

 them (about 2400 feet) were a number of cacao trees, 

 with clusters of small flowers and pods directly upon the 

 bark of the trunk; the flowers were cream color, the pods 



