58 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[April, 



THE WILD FLOWERS OF FARA, 



FIRST PAPER. 



In a large city or its immediate neighborhood 

 one would not in temperate climates expect to 

 find many wild flowers, but the contrary is the 

 case in the tropics. So prolific is vegetable life 

 that every waste spot is soon a tangle of herba- 

 ceous plants and vines, to be followed in the 

 course of a few months by seedling trees, which 

 grow with great l-apidity, soon making a wood. 

 If any of the Amazonian cities were to be de- 

 serted the spot would in a short time revert to 

 the original forest. It is no uncommon thing 

 to see small trees which from seed have taken 

 root upon the tiled roofs of the houses in Para, 

 and the chinks of any building or wall from 

 which the mortar has fallen, are soon the home 

 of numberless plants. Some of the old walls 

 are thus very picturesque, the summits covered 

 with tall plants and waving grasses, vines and 

 creepers drooping from every available spot, 

 and the old stones coated with moss of various 

 shades of green. 



A striking instance of this is before us as we 

 write, the high wall of the Custom House, for- 

 merly an old convent, on the opposite side of 

 the little cross street. It was the outer-wall of 

 the old garden, is at the lowest part twenty feet 

 high and rises in battlements at least fifty feet 

 to the high roof to which the vines have 

 climbed, crept along the eaves and sway in 

 long festoons in the cool sea breeze. Leaving 

 our office we pass along this wall, which throws 

 a cool and grateful shade, and turning down 

 the street we reach the large land door of the 

 Custom House. Just opposite is one of the 

 public squares of the city, not large but like 

 all, large and small, a disgrace to Para, covered 

 with coarse grass and which but for an occa- 

 sional mowing would soon become a jungle. 

 Even here in the heart of the city the botanist 

 can find something of interest, and we can be- 

 gin to form our bouquet of wild flowers. 



First we have a white Eupatorium, rather 

 coarse but not undesirable as the color is good, 

 and it lasts long in good condition in water. 

 Just before us almost obstructing the tortuous 

 footpath that crosses the square, is a plant 

 which in the United States would be the pride 

 of a sub-tropical garden, a huge Solanum, with 

 great hoary leaves covered with formidable 

 spines and bright with great clusters of potato- 

 like flowers, two inches in diameter and of a 

 bright purple color. These Solanums in various 

 species are a feature of Amazonian scenery; 

 they grow very tall forming thick woody stems, 

 and, in the low land subject to overflow in the 

 annual rise of the river, form dense and often 

 impenetrable thickets. In other cases where 

 they grow more thinly, one may walk between 

 the trunks screened by the great leaves far 

 above him, among which hang long bunches of 

 berries usually purple in color, but sometimes 

 whitish or red. 



Just as we reach the sidewalk on the other 

 side of the square, we brush against a delicate 

 leaved plant with pink flowers, and as the leaf- 

 lets close at our rude touch we find the pretty 

 Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) of our gar- 

 dens. It is a pretty plant, but here it becomes 

 a rank weed and is one of the first plants to 

 take possession of a deserted spot. An old 

 "roca" (clearing,) soon becomes covered with 

 the delicate foliage, attractive to the eye, but 



not easy to walk through unless one clears a 

 path with a long wood knife. In this warm 

 climate the plant is much more sensitive than 

 in our gardens, the least sudden motion of the 

 air causing the leaves to close. We mind us 

 of a time when wandering through the woods 

 in the middle Amazon, we came upon an aban- 

 doned clearing of many acres in extent ; it was 

 a field of this plant from three to four feet 

 high, the leaves all out-spread to the morning 

 sun, a tramping upon the ground caused all 

 the leaves for a long distance to close, and the 

 whole field seemed to shudder from the motion 

 of the air made by waving the huge butter-fly 

 net to and fro. We have even seen the leaves 

 close when struck by the vibration of the air, 

 produced by shouting loudly. Interesting as 

 the plant is, it is here a nuisance in the garden, 

 as it grows very rapidly and soon smothers 

 every plant near it, so, as it is almost impossi- 

 ble when once grown to keep it and its numer- 

 ous progeny within bounds, we are obliged 

 somewhat reluctantly we confess, to treat it as 

 a weed. 



But what is this bright little flower with deli- 

 cate foliage, climbing over the tall grass? 

 Another old acquaintance, the pretty Cypress 

 Vine, {Ipomaa Quarnoclit or Quamoclit coccinea) 

 of our gardens. Here though not strictly a 

 wild flower, it is very common, having escaped 

 from cultivation, and many a rubbish heap or 

 clump of unsightly bushes, is rendered attrac- 

 tive by its delicate foliage and hundreds of 

 starry flowers. The species with red flowers is 

 the only one we have seen wild, but the whole 

 flowered variety is common in the gardens, and 

 will probably soon be found along the road 

 sides. The rapidity with which this plant 

 grows is wonderful. The seed will vegetate in 

 twenty-four hours ; the plant begins to climb in 

 a few days, and in a few weeks covers every- 

 thing around it with foliage and flowers. Let 

 it once take possession of a place and it multi- 

 plies so from self-sown seed that it is difficult 

 to eradicate it. 



Now we come to the chief street of the retail 

 trade, called the "Street of Merchants," and 

 as both sides are lined with tiled front stores, 

 with not a vacant space between them, we shall 

 find no flowers, but prolific nature even here 

 shows a disposition to assert her rights and if we 

 raise our eyes to the roof we shall see a vagrant 

 vegetation. On one roof in the gutter, a Pine 

 Apple had attained considerable size, probably 

 from an old crown carelessly thrown there. 

 Grasses and weeds are common, and occasion- 

 ally vines hang down, usually of species which 

 best endure the hot sun of the dry season, 

 when their domicil on the roof for twelve 

 hours each day is as hot as a furnace. 



Having passed westward along this clean and 

 well paved street, we see before us the tall 

 towers of the cathedral on the further side of 

 the great Palace Square. In front is the wide 

 stretch of grass, the coarseness and ill condi- 

 tion of which we do not at a distance notice, 

 the Mango trees show dark with their heavy 

 foliage, lighted here and there by the brighter 

 tints of the new leaves and the great Royal 

 Palms, (Oreodoxa regia,) in a circle around an 

 unfinished monument, stand out tall against 

 the background of the clear blue sky. 



Here we find another old friend; the Milk 

 Weed (Asclepias curassavica), which we grow in 

 green-houses, forms great clumps, always 

 bright, not only for flowers, but from the num- 

 bers of gay butterflies which ever flit over the 

 orange colored blossoms. The air too is at 



times full of the long feathery arms of the 

 seeds, seeking new homes on the wings of the 

 easterly breeze. 



Instead of crossing the Square to the old 

 city, so-called, let us skirt the easterly side till 

 we come to the Estrada of St. Joseph, the finest 

 street in Para, because of the tall Eoyal Palms 

 which stretch on each side before us as far as 

 the eye can reach. It is a glorious vista ; the 

 tall column as trunks and the great fronds 

 which, wide as the road is, almost meet over- 

 head. Below is' the long reach of the road, the 

 soil dark red, contrasting well with the rich fol- 

 iage of the yards on either side, and here and 

 there we see the houses, the fronts all faced 

 with tiles, white, blue, yellow and purple ; — 

 truly there |is no lack of color! And here we 

 rest to continue our walk in another paper. 



Edward S. Rand, Jr. 



; J§jtMiwal jjjoeietie$. 



THE NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The March meeting of this society was of 

 more than usual interest, and cannot but have 

 proved satisfactory to exhibitors as well as 

 visitors. 



The rules, that all exhibits should be made 

 before 1 P. M., and that the room should not 

 be opened to visitors before 2 o'clock, were not 

 previously enforced, and consequently exhibit- 

 ors brought their plants whenever they pleased. 

 The committee had to make its report under 

 exceedingly unfavorable circumstances, in a 

 hall filled with hundreds of eager visitors, 

 crowding around the tables and making it 

 often impossible for the judges to obtain even 

 as much as a fair view of the plants and 

 flowers of which they were to judge. These 

 difficulties had been obviated at this meeting, 

 and the report was in the hands of the Secre- 

 tary before visitors were admitted. 



All that remains to be desired now, to make 

 these meetings as interesting as those of any 

 society, is to hold the exhibitions and meetings 

 for discussion in separate rooms. 



A short and practical paper on "Carna- 

 tions," was read by Mr. John Reid. 



Premiums were awarded: for Orchids to 

 Isaac Buchanan and D. L. Northrop; for 

 Lilium longiflorum floribundum, to Joseph 

 Kift & Sons and W. K. Harris; for 6 pots 

 Lily of the Valley, to Prank Cassiday; for 

 Hyacinths, to Peter Henderson, A. S. Burns, 

 and Frank Cassiday; for Tulips, to Isaac 

 Buchanan; for Cut Flowers, to Hallock & 

 Thorpe and C. E. Parnell ; for Roses, to John 

 Egan and Ernest Asmus; for 6 bunches 

 Azaleas, to James Taplin ; for 6 bunches Car- 

 nations, to Hallock & Thorpe ; for 25 Lilies of 

 the Valley, to Ernest Asmus; for 18 Tulips, to 

 Ernest Asmus; for 100 Violets, to John Egan. 



Among other highly commendable exhibits 

 were a magnificent specimen of Bougainvillea 

 spectabilis, from James Haggerty, Pough- 

 keepsie, a perfect sheet of purple-rose colored 

 bracts, towering boldly up nearly to the ceiling 

 of the hall. 



A collection of Hardy Perennials, from 

 Woolsen & Co., Passaic, N. J., which con- 

 tained several rare species. 



Mr. John Henderson's collection of Hybrid 

 Perpetual Roses, and the new large flowering 

 Marguerite, Madame Ognier, attracted much 

 attention ; also a beautiful Dendrobium from 

 Mr. William Bennett. 



