494 



JOTJBNAL OP HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ December 19, 1872. 



sary for the traveller to bury himself in its deep recesses ; and 

 there, indeed, instead of the fatiguing monotony of our Eu- 

 ropean Oaks and Firs, every tree has a character of its own, 

 each has its peculiar foliage . and probably also a tint unlike 



that of the trees which surround it. Gigantic vegetables of 

 the most different families intermix their branches ; five-leaved 

 Bignonias grow by the side of Bonduc trees ; Cassias shed 

 their yellow blossoms upon the rich fronds of arborescent 



Mm 



Ferns ; Myrtles and Eugenias, with their thousand arms, con- 

 trast with the elegant simplicity of Palms ; and among the airy 

 foliage of the Mimosa, the Cecropia elevates its giant leaves 

 and heavy candelabra-shaped branches. Of some trees the 

 trunk is perfectly smooth, of others it is defended by enormous 

 spines, and the whole are often apparently sustained by the 

 slanting stems of a huge wild Fig tree. With us, the Oak, the 

 Chestnut, and the Beech seem as if they bore no flowers, so 



small are they and so little distinguishable, except by natural- 

 ists ; but in the forests of South America it is often the most 

 gigantic trees that produce the most brilliant flowers ; Cassias 

 hang down then- pendents of golden blossoms, Vochisias un- 

 fold their singular bunches ; corollas, longer than those of 

 our Foxglove, sometimes yellow or sometimes purple, load the 

 arborescent Bignonias ; while the Chorisias are covered, as it 

 were, with Lilies, only their colours are richer and more varied j 



