FLORA OF BRITISH GUIANA——HITCHCOCK. 303 
account of the heavy rainfall the water is fresh except near tidal 
estuaries where it is more or less brackish. The marshes are inter- 
spersed with rivers and creeks, and water plants are abundant. The 
most characteristic tree of this region is the eta palm (Mauritia flex- 
uosa) which gives the marshes the aspect of the low land along the 
coast of South Carolina where the cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto) 
is the prevailing tree. The eta palm has a cluster of deeply cut fam- 
shaped leaves. | 
A common plant in the marshes and along the streams is: mucka- 
mucka (Montrichardia arborescens), an erect aroid growing to the 
height of 10 to 15 feet, gregarious in dense impenetrable thickets. 
The stem is thicker at the base and covered with short straight 
prickles. The white flowers are:about the shape of those of the calla 
lily. A great variety of water plants are found here, many of them 
with showy flowers, and many species of sedges and grasses. The 
giant Victoria regia is native to the rivers farther inland but is freely 
planted in the canals of the botanical garden and other parts of 
Georgetown. The immense leaves are several feet in diameter and 
are turned up at the edges. Several species of water lilies are found, 
some native, some introduced, with flowers white, yellow, pink, and 
blue. The water hyacinth (two species of Hichornia or Piaropus) 
with a showy cluster of lavender evanescent flowers and the leaves 
swollen and hollow at the base, several species of Utricularia and 
Pinguicula, water lettuce (Pistia stratiodes), Cabomba, Salvinia, 
Azolla, and Mayaca, are frequent. . 
Somewhat farther up the rivers is found the wild cacao (Pachira 
aquatica), with digitate leaves, large tassel-like flowers as much as 
8 inches long, and brown fruit about the shape of a cacao pod. 
When a clearing is allowed to grow up to forest one of the first 
species to make its appearance in quantity is the trumpet tree 
(Cecropia peltata). 
The virgin forest covers nearly the whole of British Guiana. 
This climax of vegetation is of great interest, for it represents the 
resultant of the struggle of existence between species and indi- 
viduals rather than between plants and their physical environment, 
such as climate and soil conditions. The forest of the Tropics differs 
much in aspect and composition from the forest of the north. A 
redwood forest of the Pacific slope impresses one as being a collec- 
tion of magnificent trees; the rain forest of the Tropics impresses 
one as being a vast amount of vegetation, but not as a collection of 
large trees. The edge of a forest, either where it abuts upon a clear- 
ing or where it overhangs a river, is very luxuriant, presenting to 
the eye an impenetrable wall of green, There is the same vigor of 
