170 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OP PLANTS. 



the Myrtles ; even above the height of 2000 feet the Myrtles 

 seem to be a principal feature in the noble evergreen forests, 

 growing as large trees, "thirty and forty feet high, and with 

 trunks three and four feet thick." Here too majestic Lau- 

 rels are to be seen, "sending up ten, twelve, and thirteen 

 stems, each a foot in thickness, from a single root." 



Cactuses are extremely prevalent here also, ascending 

 from the coasts up to the second region on the mountains ; 

 one of the most beautiful sights in nature, for contrast of 

 colour, must be the kind of Cactus called Cereus, when its 

 large white blossoms are mingled with the scarlet ones of a 

 parasitical climber which often covers it, called Lorantkus ; 

 a plant with thick, leathery leaves like the Misseltoe, to 

 which it is allied. Dodder (Cuscuta) is also amongst the 

 parasitical plants here; not like a little twisted wire, as 

 with us, but of a large size. 



There is a plant, now often seen in English gardens, 

 called Eccremocarpus sealer, one of the Trumpet-flower or 

 Bignonia tribe, with orange-red blossoms like polished wax; 

 at Valparaiso this plant grows wild over the hedges and 

 thickets, and seems to take peculiar delight in decking the 

 withered-looking Acacia Caven with its gold-red blossoms. 

 Most of the trees and shrubs have strong, thick, leathery, 



