170 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



The vegetation back of it was ideal for a Cerion 

 colony. This is of the true sand soil kind, present- 

 ing at first low isolated bushes and long streamers 

 of broad-leaved vines (Ipomwa pes-caprce) which 

 sprawl flat over the hot sand under a glaring sun. 

 This is the most characteristic creeper of the Antil- 

 lean sand beaches. It bears a purplish flower. 

 One wonders how this plant can withstand the 

 withering heat of a sun-drenched tropic beach, 

 lying as it does directly upon the hot surface of the 

 dry sand. Also abundant here is the common 

 "Sea Grape" {Coccolobis uvijera) growing directly 

 from the sand into tall treelike bushes. Its 

 leaves are dark olive green with reddish midrib, 

 and from its branches depend long racemes of 

 green grapes (purple when ripe) . The seeds within 

 the grape are large and the fruit itself is hardly 

 edible. I believe this shrub attains in other places 

 a height of not less than forty-five feet, but none 

 that we observed were more than half that height. 

 There are quantities of a dense- growing dome- 

 shaped bush bearing inconspicuous white flowers 

 and, like the Coccolobis, growing directly from the 

 sand (Tournefortia gnaphaloides) . It is related to 

 our common hot-house heliotrope. 



