70 THE FLORIST AND 



above the trees, many choice plants are to be found of the following genera: 

 Gesnera, Vellozia, Hippeastrum, Sinningia, Besleria, Columnea, Gaulthe- 

 *ia, Clusea, Rhipsalis, Cactus, Prepusa, Escallonia, Luxemburgia, Tillandsia, 

 Franciscea hydrangeseformis, with numerous Orchids, and a composite plant 

 with flowers like a Stifftia. 



The country for thirty miles beyond the Organ Mountains, through which 

 the main road to the Minas Geraes passes, is of a rolling or hilly character 

 and densely wooded. OIF and on this road, which keeps close to the banks 

 of the Rio Parahiba, we botanized for a few days ; a view from an eminence 

 of the tops of the forest trees here was truly beautiful, so many of them be- 

 ing in bloom. The Csesalpinia brasiliensis (Brazil wood,) was very common 

 and conspicuous, its top covered with yellow flowers, dotting the forest in 

 every direction you might turn ; these, with the hoary-headed, broad-leaved 

 Cecropia peltata and digitata, contrasted well with Jacaranda mimoscefolia, 

 and numerous Melastomese bearing violet-colored flowers ; for in Brazil ma- 

 ny species of this family form trees twenty to eighty feet in height, and 

 when in bloom are marked objects of attraction. By the sides of the roads 

 where the primitive growth had been partially cleared away, an entirely dis- 

 tinct flora had sprung up in its place, consisting principally of Solanaceous 

 plants and composites of luxuriant growth and great beauty of flower, inter- 

 mingled with Begonias, Lobelias, Prepusas, and rambling Apocyneous and 

 Malpighiaceous plants, such as Banisteria and Stigmaphyllon, with solitary 

 specimens of a Bougainvillea, and an Alstrnemeria, like A. acutifolia ; and 

 on moist ground some fine scarlet and blue Lobelias, one of the latter with 

 a stem ten feet high, crowned with very ornamental flowers. Along the 

 margins of sandy creeks grew several species of Cleome and quite a variety 

 of Lantanas, over the tops of which rambled the stems of Aristolochia bra- 

 siliensis ; and close along and on each side of the road a row of Furcroya 

 gigantea had been thickly planted in order to prevent the mules returning 

 from the mines with their loads getting lost in the bushes. We passed for 

 miles between such rows of this most majestic of all herbaceous plants, a 

 number being in full bloom at the time ; some of the flower stems at the base 

 measured eight inches in diameter, and stood from thirty to forty feet high. 



There grew on low lands that had been inundated by the river, two spe- 

 cies of Cuphea, both very desirable for cultivation, one having deep purple, 

 and the other pale blue flowers ; while a yellow flowered. Jussioea in large 

 masses occupied stagnant pools of water. We had now got far enough in- 

 land to find the stately Araucaria brasiliensis, not in groups or groves, but 

 in solitary specimens on the banks sloping to the river; their symmetrical 

 habit and lance leaves closely set on the branches, contrasted strongly with 

 the broad, smooth, shining foliage of the umbrageous trees on the back 

 ground. One of these Araucaria trees we ascended in order to procure 



