TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



of the melHfluous paullinias, of the burning dale- 

 champias and the bauhinia with its strangely lo- 

 bated leaves* ; strings of the leafless milky bindweed 

 (^Lianes), which descend from the highest summits 

 of the trees, or closely twine round the strongest 

 trunks and gradually kill them : lastly, those para- 

 sitical plants, by which old trees are invested with 

 the garment of youth ; the grotesque species of 

 the pothos- and arum, the superb flowers of the 

 orchideset, the bromelias which catch the rain- 

 water, the tillandsia t hanging down like Lichen 

 pulmonarius, and a multiplicity of strangely formed 

 ferns § : all these admirable productions of so 

 young a soil, combine to form a scene which alter- 

 nately Alls the European naturalist with delight 

 and astonishment. 



When we here attempt to sketch a picture of 

 the interior of a tropical forest, w e must not forget 



* Mikania stipulacea Vhl., viscosa Spr., opifera nob. (Eupa- 

 tor crenatum Gom) ; Bignonia venusta Ker, ; Paullinia pinnata, 

 Cururu L., meliaefolia, thalictrifolia Juss. ; Dalecliampia brasili'^ 

 ensis, ficifolia, pentaphylla, triphylla, convolvuloides Lam, ; 

 Bauhinia gujanensis Lam., aculeata L. 



f Pothos crassinervia, digitata Jacq., macrophylla Sw., pal- 

 mata L. ; Caladium lacerum, pinnatifidum, grandifolium Jacq. ; 

 Oncidium barbatum, pictum Humb,; lonopsis pulchella Humb. ; 

 Nepttia speciosa Sw. 



i Bromelia Pinguin, Karatas, Acanga, iridifolia Nees et M. ; 

 Tillandsia usneoides L. 



§ Acrostichum <;alomelanos ; Polypodium percussum Cav., 

 submarginale, vaceinifolium Fisch. ; Aspidium exaltatum Sw. ; 

 Pteris pedata L. 



