224 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



help wondering at some peculiar-looking plants, allied to 

 the Banana, called Heliconias, with rather astonishing flap- 

 ping leaves, and numbers of flowers enclosed in a spathe, 

 which is so large that it is a far more prominent feature 

 than the flowers it protects, sometimes five or six inches 

 long, and of a boat-like shape. Begonias too are growing 

 intermixed, with which we are all familiar ; whilst a little 

 higher up the mountain, feathery Tree-ferns (Plate XIY.) 

 and noble Macauba Palms gracefully wave their light foliage. 

 But now, having reached the level of the aqueduct, we 

 will rest awhile before we explore any further, and contem- 

 plate from a distance " the harbour with its crowd of masts 

 and various flags," and the city, stretched out at the foot 

 of pleasant hills, with its houses and steeples glittering in 

 the sun. Whilst pausing here, we recognize and exchange 

 greetings with a very common English plant, growing here 

 and there in damp and shady spots, the common Water- 

 cress (Nasturtium officinale}; though by no means peculiarly 

 English, for go where we will, we meet with this little cos- 

 mopolite, and find it mixing in all kinds of society. In this 

 locality we observe it growing side by side, on the most in- 

 timate terms, with strange-leaved Begonias and numerous 

 Ferns. 



