72 THE WORLD OF LIFE 



The chief feature which distinguishes this flora from that of 

 Nicaragua and Costa Rica is the presence in some abundance 

 of the highly characteristic South ximerican order Malpighia- 

 cese, the high position of Myrtacese, with Labiates and Ascle- 

 piads in place of Aroids and Palms. Of the rather numerous 

 Orchids about 70 are terrestrial, 50 epiphytes. There are over 

 40 genera, of which Spiranthes has 16 species, Habenaria 12, 

 while 22 have only 1 species each. The very large American 

 genus Oncidium has only 5 species, while the grand genus 

 Cattleya, so abundant in many parts of Brazil, seems to be 

 entirely absent. 



Adaptations to Brought 



The plant figured on the next page, like many others of the 

 campos, has its roots swollen and woody, forming a store of 

 water and food to enable it to withstand the effects of drought 

 and of the campo-fires. The old stems show where they have 

 been burnt off, and the figures of many other plants with woody 

 roots or tubers, figured by Mr. Warming, show similar effects 

 of burning. 



Still more remarkable is the tree figured on p. 74 (Fig. 7), 

 which is adapted to the same conditions in a quite different 

 way, as are many other quite unrelated species.-^ The group 

 of plants is really an underground tree, and not merely dwarf 

 shrubs as they at first appear to be. What look like surface- 

 roots are really the branches of a tree the trunk of which, and 

 often a large part of the limbs and branches, are buried in 

 the earth. The stems shown are the root-like branches, which 

 are 4—5 inches diameter, w^hile the growing shoots are from 

 2 to 3 feet high. The whole plan (or tree) is from 30 to 40 

 feet diameter. As the branches approach the centre they de- 



1 The following species have a similar mode of gro\vth : Anacardium 

 Jiumile, Hortia Brasiliensis (Riitacese), Cochlospermum insigne (Cistaceae), 

 Simaha Warniingiana (Simariibaeese) , Erythroxylon campestre (Erythroxy- 

 laceae), Plumiera Warmingii ( Apocynaceae ) , Palicourea rigida (Cincho- 

 naceae ) , etc. 



