74 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[May, 



THE WILD FLOWERS OF PAEA. 



SECOND PAPER. 



The Estrada of St. Jose is a wide avenue 

 running from the Largo (square) of the 

 palace to the Largo of St. Jose. It is about 

 half a mile in length; and is planted on each 

 side at intervals of about fifteen feet with 

 the Royal Palm (Oreodoxa regia). These 

 trees are now very tall, and the effect of the 

 heavy columns or shafts capped by the im- 

 mense crown of heavy, dark-green foliage is 

 very imposing. The flowers of this Palm are 

 very small, whitish, and are produced in 

 immense numbers froin a huge spathe which 

 projects just below the lower leaves; the 

 fruit is black, and about the size of a very 

 large Whortleberry. Some of these trees are 

 always in bloom, and the great brush-like 

 plumes of blossoms add not a little to the 

 beauty of the tree. Let us walk up this 

 grand avenue, and if we can turn our eyes 

 away from gazing up at the Palmfe, we shall 

 find much to attract our notice. 



The houses are not usually close together ; 

 there are many yards and often spaces of 

 uninclosed ground, where wild flowers grow 

 in profusion. On our left is a high wall, lean- 

 ing over which is a mass of palmate foliage 

 with spikes of thorny seed capsules. It is 

 the Castor-oil Bean ( liicinus), which here in a 

 few months attains from seed the dimensions 

 of a tree. Although when the plant branches 

 it loses much of its effectiveness, it is always 

 noticeable ; it grows in all waste places, on 

 rubbish heaps, and by the road-side, and as 

 the predatory goats which run loose in the 

 streets always avoid cropping it, having a 

 wise disinclination to physic themselves, it 

 often attains considerable dimensions, and, 

 from the crop of younger plants from self- 

 sown seeds, soon forms thickets. The growth 

 of the top is, however, in disproportion to 

 the root, and a moderate wind is sufficient to 

 topple over the plants, so one seldom finds 

 plants of any great age. There is but one 

 species here, that with glaucous green leaves, 

 and a very small, light-colored bean ; the 

 large fruited varieties would succeed equally 

 well, and would be of economic value. The 

 Brazilian name is Mamona. 



Many of the fields on either side of the 

 road are fenced by tall, pointed stakes driven 

 deep into the ground. These tall fences, 

 rough and unsightly as they are at first, be- 

 come in a few months very beautiful from 

 the masses of climbing plants which cover 

 them, often wholly concealing them, and 

 forming a wall of verdure. 



Prominent among the climbers are the dif- 

 ferent species of Morning Glory ( Convolvulus 

 and Ipomma ) with allied genera. These are 

 both annual and perennial, the former grow- 

 ing rapidly, and in a few weeks producing a 

 wealth of flowers ; then as the so-called dry 

 season approaches (if there can be a dry 

 season in a climate where it showers four 

 days out of five all the year round, although 

 these are never what are called rainy days in 

 the United States), they ripen the seed and 

 die. The perennial species are of two classes, 

 both forming large tuberous roots, but the 

 one produces annual stems which having 

 flowered wither away, while the other forms 

 a woody vine, the trunk of which often 



attains considerable dimensions. In our 

 wanderings in the Amazonian valley we have 

 admired these plants more than any others. 

 They grow in the various species in every 

 soil, some in the rich "vergia" land, where 

 the black alluvial soil is of unknown depth, 

 others on the skirts of the woods of "term 

 firma" (land not subject to annual overflow), 

 and others again on the sandy "campas" 

 (plains), where they twine around the thorny 

 stems of the scrub Tueuma Palms, or often 

 overtop the crown and hang in gay festoons 

 almost to the ground. In color, dark blue is 

 wholly wanting, as far as we have seen, and 

 light blue is only found in an annual species 

 which we have only noticed here in Para. 

 Yellow, also, is only supplied by one of the 

 allied species, a perennial of very strong 

 growth, with clusters of bright flowers not 

 very large ; this plant,- though common in 

 Para, we have never seen elsewhere. 



The chief colors are white, pink, lake, and 

 white with deep wine-colored throat, but 

 there are many species all imlike in color 

 and size, so that there is no lack of variety. 

 One other Ipomoea deserves a passing men- 

 tion, a night-blooming species with immense 

 white flowers, with well-defined pearly stars 

 in the center. These great flowers, often four 

 to six inches in diameter, open just before 

 sunset and close soon after sunrise ; all night 

 they diffuse a delicious perfume, sometimes 

 when many are in bloom together too power- 

 ful to be pleasant at close quarters. The 

 Brazilian name for this plant is " Amor do 

 Homem," or "Man's Love," what it is botan- 

 ically we have not ascertained ; it belongs 

 to the section that produces tuberous roots 

 and annual stems, but as these stems are 

 shooting from the root all the time in this 

 climate, the plant is virtually a perennial 

 always in bloom. 



A familiar flower, which we often meet on 

 the roadside, is the Lantana. The only species, 

 however, which we have seen wild is that with 

 small pink flowers. It forms a rough, ill- 

 smelling bush, and making one's way through 

 a mass of it is not pleasant. The plant is 

 more attractive from the numbers of bright 

 butterflies which always hover over it than for 

 any great beauty of flowers. The yellow and 

 orange species we have not seen wild, but as 

 from plants in our garden we have seen seed- 

 lings at some distance, evidently carried by 

 the birds which are very fond of the berries, 

 there seems no reason why the roadsides 

 should not have an orange-colored Lantana, 

 which may in time, as its growth is very 

 vigorous, become a most unwelcome intruder 

 on cultivated grounds. 



But what is this, covering the branches of 

 that large Orange tree before us, and with 

 the profusion of its white flowers almost 

 hiding the glossy foliage and golden fruit ? 

 It is a true parasite of the Mistletoe family, 

 and by its profusion bids fair to kill all the 

 Orange trees, if the people here, as is usually 

 the case, are too lazy to remove it. The leaf 

 is lanceolate, dark green, the flower resembles 

 that of the Madeira Vine, and if one can for- 

 get the mischief the plant does, is very pretty. 

 The Brazilians call it " Herva dos Passaros " 

 or " Bird Plant," because the birds are very 

 fond of the black berries and sow them in 

 every direction upon the branches of the 

 trees. The seed is viscid and clings wherever 

 it touches, germinates rapidly, and the plant 

 soon attains a large size. It is very beautiful 

 when in bloom, the large, slender branches 



heavy with flowers, sometimes wholly con- 

 cealing the tree, but it is death to the tree 

 from the sap of which it draws its life. It is 

 not peculiar to the Orange tree, but is found 

 also on the Mango, the Sapodilla, and other 

 fruit-bearing trees; and on the middle Amazon 

 it grows in abundance on the outskirts of the 

 forests ; but the Orange tree seems a favorite, 

 and there is scarce an orchard in Para which 

 does not show trees dying from this plant. 

 When the tree dies the parasite dies also, for 

 this plant does not, like many other plants 

 here, first establish itself on the tree, and hav- 

 ing exhausted it, then make roots for itself, 

 establish a connection with the soil, and 

 begin a separate existence. 



In a garden on our right is a huge Mango 

 tree hanging full of the misshapen fruit ; but 

 what is of more interest to us is the numbers 

 of pineapple-like crowns which cluster along 

 the branches. These are Tillandsias of various 

 kinds ; some are very large in diameter, 

 more than four feet, others are tiny little fel- 

 lows, with close-set leaves. All that we see 

 are bright green, with long wands of dull 

 green whitish flowers, but many of the 

 species are very showy, the leaves being gray 

 or marbled, and in some the flower-bracts are 

 scarlet and crimson. We remember one 

 enormous plant we once saw in Peru, the 

 flower-scape of which stood six feet Mgh, the 

 bracts were scarlet, the flowers purple, and 

 all parts of the stalk were powdered with 

 white and shone like frost. There was but 

 the' one plant ; not a seedling could we dis- 

 cover, and reluctantly we left the plant, 

 which was more than two men could lift, and 

 a good load for a canoe. 



The variety of these Tillandsias is endless ; 

 we have seen the forest path bright with 

 them, where on one side the full light could 

 enter. They seldom grow in the shade, but 

 generally in the full blaze of the sun. The 

 gray and variegated leaved species, with 

 drooping crowns, are, however, more fond of 

 the shade. Wherever found, they are no- 

 ticeable, both in foliage and flowers. We 

 often see them on balconies in the city, they 

 having been brought in from the woods, and 

 even in such an unfavorable position they 

 preserve their freshness for many months. 



E. S. Rand, Jr. 



THE LILIUM AUEATUM AT HOME. 



The " Queen of Lilies" is thus described by 

 a correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle : 



11 Coming from the south of Japan I saw 

 for the first time the Lilium auratum, a little 

 after passing the gate of Hakoni, three days 

 before arriving at Yokohama. They were 

 grown in fields, as our Onions are, and quite 

 as close to each other. As the flowers were 

 beginning to expand the sight was mag- 

 nificent, and the scent overpowering. It was 

 much later, and far north of Tokio, that I 

 saw them wild, coming out of the margin of 

 the natural shrubberies, generally with a 

 single huge blossom, sometimes two, rarely 

 three. It is no wonder we got at first notice 

 such quantities of them, as the bulbs are a 

 common article of diet with the natives, and 

 are sold everywhere as a vegetable in the 

 markets. I have eaten them pretty often, 

 and rather relished them, as they are, when 

 cooked, sweet, mucilaginous, and without 

 any decided taste to make them objectionable 

 to a newcomer." 



