"under surface, when agitated by the wind, 
.. gives the whole tree the appearance of be- 
ing clothed with white flowers. 
“Near the summit of the Pedra Bonita 
_ there is a Fazienda or farm, the proprietor 
. of which is now clearing away the virgin 
forest, which reaches to the very summit 
of the mountain, and converting the wood 
of the larger trees into charcoal. We 
considered ourselves fortunate in having 
made our visit just at this time, when se- 
veral massy trunks had been felled from 
Which we obtained a rich harvest of Orchi- 
deous plants with little trouble. Several 
of the larger denizens of the forest I found 
to belong to the Natural Orders Melasto- 
. macee and Myrtacee, but what the others 
were I could not determine. 
.. "The ascent to the Pedra is made on 
the North side, which is the only part still 
covered with wood. Immediately on emerg- 
ing from the forest, and attaining the sum- 
mit, most magnificent view of the sur- 
rounding country presents itself. As it 
was nearly sunset before we attained the 
: top, there was little time for botanizing. 
On the edge of a precipice on the eastern 
side, we found a large patch of Cattleya 
labiata, which, with some difficulty, and 
no small risk, I managed to reach, and ob- 
E on flowering specimens and living 
of this beautiful Epiphyte. A great 
. Partof the mountain-top is covered with 
Vellosia candida, on the branches of which 
we Saw two parasitical Orchidee, and, 
stewing with the Vellosia, two species of a 
genus belonging to Apocynee, both of them 
er purple, but equally exhaling an 
Similar to that of the common Prim- 
og Tha marshy spot we collected spe- 
: cimens of a Utricularia with purple blos- 
i Dee and long spathulate leaves. 
pr ow For the next two days it rained so ex- 
On » that we were reluctantly con- 
z to remain within doors. As we 
ad Tesolved to visit the Pedra again, we 
Th. . 47» In the midst of the heavy rain. 
us sod In the neighbourhood of Tejuca 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
351 
is a red clay, peculiarly tenacious of moist- 
ure, a fact of which we were ‘made abund- 
antly aware during our walk. Many Mosses 
and Lichens presented themselves on the 
rocks by the road-side ; and about half way 
up we observed a small tree of Mayna 
Brasiliensis, sparingly in flower, the inflo- 
rescence, however, all staminiferous. Near 
the Fazienda at the top of the Pedra grew 
a small plant of the Natural Order Caly- 
cereæ. (1) Having reached the summit, 
we paid another visit to the recently-felled 
trees, and added considerably to our stock 
of parasites. On the small branches of a 
Melastomaceous tree, grew a few plants of 
a Masdevallia, two of which only were in 
flower: it is not described in Lindley’s 
rchidee. We found on several large 
trees the purple-flowered Apocynous plant 
which we had remarked on our previous 
visit, growing along with Vellosia candida, 
and also a few tubers of a Gesnera, per- 
haps G. Douglasii (vid. No, 251 of col- 
lection). Again, I made many endeavours, 
when at the very summit, to reach the 
Cattleya labiata, but the wetness of the 
rocks, the strong breeze that was blowing, 
and the hazy state of the atmosphere, by 
which the whole summit of the Pedra was - 
wrapped in clouds, baffled all my endea- 
vours, till, with a very long stick, to the 
end of which a hook was attached, I con- 
trived to possess myself of the whole mass. 
And now having collected as much as we 
were able to carry, we began our down- 
ward progress, drenched to the skin, and 
having, on our return to the house, changed 
our wet clothes, we fortunately experienced 
no ill effects from our excursion. The 
heavy rain which continued to fall the next 
morning, was very unfavourable to our 
wishes, as alike preventing us from leaving 
the dwelling and from properly drying the 
paper in which we wanted to s f our 
plants. Sunshine, however, ushering in 
the next morning, we gladly availed our- 
selves of it, to spread our papers on the 
terrace at the end of the house, mandra 
rays of a mid-day sun p 
powerful > pie CF abid 
ted 
"hee which the wet wea- 
us to effect à process, 
