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toward the Pacific side although a few peaks in the northern 

 coastal range are reported to rise to a height of about 8,000 feet. 



The prevailing trade winds blow from the northeast to south- 

 west. As a consequence the northern Caribbean coastal plain 

 and mountain slopes receive an ample rainfall. Plant life is 

 abundant there and the mountain slopes are covered with a luxu- 

 riant rain-fdrest type of vegetation. In parts of the interior 

 many of the mountains are densely forested much as those near 

 the coast, especially towards their summits and in ravines where 

 numerous species of trees, shrubs, ferns (many of which are 

 tree-like), arums, bromeliads, many woody and herbaceous vines, 

 peperomias, etc., grow very rank. In many parts of the interior 

 the rainfall is less, and open, park-like regions with pine and oak 

 forests are predominant. This type of forest is also to be found 

 on the leeward slopes of the northern coastal range. One can 

 find few regions elsewhere where so great a variation of ecological 

 conditions are to be found as in Honduras, and, as Standley has 

 pointed out, probably few areas of equal size yield as great a 

 variety of species. A large part of the country still remains unex- 

 plored, botanically speaking, particularly in the mountainous in- 

 terior and near the Salvador border where the country is especially 

 rough and the mountains, according to report, are covered with 

 a rich vegetation. 



The writer, accompanied by James Koepper and Kenneth 

 Wagner, spent the summer of 1938 from June to the middle of 

 August making plant collections in the department of Atlantida 

 on the slopes of the coastal range in the vicinity of La Ceiba and 

 also along the Aguan River valley in the department of Yoro near 

 the village of Coyoles above Olanchito. The Aguan valley, which 

 lies behind the high coastal range, is especially interesting botani- 

 cally because of the low rainfall and consequent semi-arid condi- 

 tions. The period of our visit was during the comparatively dry 

 summer season when only a small percentage of the species were 

 in a flowering or fruiting condition suitable for collecting. Al- 

 though a number of undescribed species were obtained, undoubt- 

 edly a collection made in the' spring following the rainy season 

 would reveal many additional and interesting ])lants. 



The Aguan River rises in the mountains in the interior of the 

 department of Yoro and flows in a northeasterly direction to 



