66 THE FLORIST AND 



confining ourselves for the present to what was observed in the vicinity of 

 Rio de Janeiro, and within sixty miles inland of it, in an easterly direction. 

 And, Mr. Editor, it is not at all unlikely that much that may be said on the 

 above head will prove of little interest to many of the readers of the Florist. 

 Be this as it may, we are inclined to believe, that to the practical horticul- 

 turist, or such as have the cultivation of plants from this and similar tropi- 

 cal regions to attend to, some hints may perhaps be thrown out by the way, 

 which in the daily operations of the judicious cultivator, it is possible may 

 prove of some advantage to him. 



One of the first features of this rich and beautiful country which presents 

 itself to the eye of a lover of nature on entering the spacious bay of Rio, is 

 the conical hills on each side, and beautiful islands clothed with luxuriant 

 vegetation down to the water's edge. Passing these, and advancing towards 

 the city, the scene becomes grander and more extended, the objects being 

 more distant and of greater magnitude. On the left, its base laved by the 

 surf, is the symmetrical Sugar-loaf rock, 1250 feet high ; and some few miles 

 distant in the back ground of this, the Corcovado, with its bald top, rises to 

 an elevation of 2230 feet, whose irregularly sloping sides are covered with 

 the richest of Flora's productions — of which we may speak hereafter. To 

 the eastward, and at a distance of — miles, are seen the Organ mountains ; 

 the points of some of whose peaks rise to the height of 7000 feet. These 

 mountains, which can easily be reached in two days from Rio, will more am- 

 ply repay the botanist for his trouble of visiting them than any other region 

 of the same extent with which we are acquainted. Oo our first excursion to 

 them, we took passage on board of a felucca-rigged freight boat ; and being- 

 favored with a steady and rather stiff breeze, we found ourselves glided along 

 by far too swiftly to be able to distinguish the individual rarities that adorn 

 the numerous islands which stud the surface of the upper part of the bay. 

 After about two hours' sail we found ourselves entering the mouth of the Rio 

 Anhumirum, the water of which was muddy and sluggish, flowing as it does 

 for a considerable distance through a marshy district. The banks on each 

 side were low ; along these grew Anona palustris, and a shrubby species of 

 Hibiscus, bearing yellow flowers. Acrostichum danoeafolium, Langsd. and 

 Fisch., with its golden colored frond six to eight feet high, occupied large 

 tracts, almost to the entire exclusion of other plants, although occasionally a 

 few Cyperaceag and the spikes of a species of Typha shewed themselves ; in 

 mud creeks a Pancratium, with large white flowers, grew in masses, while 

 from the boat we picked up floating along tufts of Salvinia natans and biloba, 

 with Pontederia crassipes, Limnocharis ITumboldtii and Azolla majellanica. 

 "We landed from the boat at a village called Estrella ; from this the distance 

 to the base of the mountains is about eight miles by the public road, which 



