434 Foreign JSTotices. 



The road-side was gay with the pale yellow blossoms of Turnera 

 trioniflora and the delicate pink heads of the sensitive plant (^Mi7nosa 

 pudica.) Along its shore the lake was fringed with low shrubs, among 

 which I observed Anona palustris, Avicennia tomentosa, and Jl. lucida, 

 Laguncularia racemosa, and a suparborescent kind of Caladium, while 

 many parts of the water were yellow with the flowers of Limnocharis 

 Commersonii, and of a large species of Utricularia. Towards Olinda 

 I was delighted at finding the surface of the water covered with thousands 

 of the splendid white blossoms and broad floating foliage of a Avater-lily 

 (^Nymphma ampla, DC.) 



Besides the letter that I carried to Dr. Serpa from the President, was 

 another to Senhor da Cunha, Professor of the French and English lan- 

 guages at Olinda; and having called first on this gentleman, he express- 

 ed his regret that he could not accompany us to the garden, owing to 

 his delicate state of health; his looks indeed testifying a tendency to 

 consumption. 



The Botanic Garden is situated in a hollow, rather behind the town 

 of Olinda, and if it were all under cultivation would be of considerable 

 size. The residence of the Professor stands nearly in the centre; it is 

 a small building, of a single story. We found Dr. Serpa in his study, 

 a rather large apartment, which he also uses for a lecture room; and 

 were impressed by the intelligent and agreeable manners of the old gen- 

 tleman, who is perhaps above sixty years of age; and, besides his other 

 duties, has the principal medical practice in the town of Olinda. A few 

 French works on botany and agiiculture compose the chief part of his 

 very limited library; among them I observed a complete set of the Flo- 

 ra Fluminensis, by Padre Vellozo. He showed me also three volumes 

 of original drawmgs of indigenous and exotic plants, executed by his 

 sons in illustration of the Linntean system; many of them, however, 

 were incorrectly named; Cicca disticha, for instance, being called Ribes 

 Grossularia. 



Dr. Serpa then accompanied us in a walk round the garden, which 

 contained little worthy of notice; a few European plants, struggling for 

 existence, and some large Indian trees being its chief productions; among 

 the trees, however, were fine specimens of mango, tamarind, and cin- 

 namon. We afterwards proceeded to see a little of the neighboring 

 country, where I hoped to find something more interesting than within 

 the precincts of the garden, and in this expectation I was not disappoint- 

 ed, having collected several species new to me, among them Cuphcea 

 flava, which is common in dry situations in this province, and a curious 

 Eriocaulon. After visiting some of the churches, and the ruins of an 

 old convent, now inhabited by a hermit,we returned in a canoe to Receife. 

 About a fortnight after my arrival at Pernambuco, Dr. Loudon remov- 

 ed to his country-house, situated on the banks of the Rio Capibaribe, 

 about four miles west from Receife. The country round, being chiefly 

 uncultivated, afforded ample scope for my researches. In a low marshy 

 spot near the house I found a good many Cyperacece and Graminece^ 

 and great plenty of the curious Fangatium indicum (Lamarck;) and in 

 the same marsh, as well as along the banks of the river, are some large 

 trees of Avicennia nit/da, some of their stems measuring five feet in 

 circumference, and rising unl)ranched to a height of more than twenty 

 feet. Near the entrance of Dr. Loudon's house stands a large tree be- 

 longing to the natural order Chrysohalance, perhaps a species of Mo- 

 quilea (No. 992 of this collection.) The stem is of considerable thick- 

 ness, quite straight, and rises undivided to the height of upwards of 

 thirty-five feet: below it is much ribbed, and at the summit is crowned 

 by a top, not unlike that of an European beech; upon the whole it is 

 one of the finest trees I have seen in this country, not certainly for size, 



