NEW YOkK 



BOTANICAL 



0AIIU6N 



TORREYA 



Vol. 26 No. 4 



July- August, 1926 



FROM RIO TO PETROPOLIS 



William Alphonso Murrill 



Petropolis is a summer resort in the Organ Mountains about 

 thirty-five miles north of Rio. Leaving the hotel a little be- 

 fore seven on a trolley car, I changed to a taxi at the foot of the 

 mountain and caught the 8:30 train at Praia Formoza for Pe- 

 tropolis. As I passed through the gate with my first-class 

 ticket, the guard handed me a slip of paper with M 3 on it, 

 which meant that seat three in car M was reserved for me and 

 that I should take no other. This prevented a rush for seats, 

 giving preference to those arriving first at the station, and in- 

 dicating when the train was full. 



For the first half-hour, our journey lay through low ground 

 partly covered with mangrove {Avicenna) and various other 

 marsh plants, and then we reached a low terrace, slightly above 

 sea-level, on which bamboo, palms, bracken, and a number of 

 young trees of second growth appeared; the most conspicuous 

 being a purple-flowered Tibouchina and a low, spreading acacia 

 with beautiful white flowers. I had seen this acacia before, but 

 never in such great abundance, and the purple and white to- 

 gether made a very pleasing color scheme. 



At Rozario, forty-five minutes from Rio, the blue mountains 

 ahead looked quite near and the vegetation became denser and 

 more varied, resembling that on top of the mountain near Sao 

 Paulo. The same terrace continued unbroken, but there were 

 now older trees covered with moisture-loving cacti, air-plants, 

 aroids, and other vines. The villages were not attractive, gar- 

 dens were practically wanting, and the people seemed poor. 

 Passing Estrella and Entroncamento, we entered a small valley 

 between foothills covered with forests like those on Corcovado, 

 in which the same white-leaved tree mingled with gold and 

 purple-flowered trees on the steep granite slopes, while the 

 white-flowered acacia grew in the valley. 



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