392 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



him, even without having made botany a special study, 

 is, in a measure, prepared to appreciate the resemblances 

 and the differences between plants of the tropical and 

 those of the temperate regions. An acquaintance with 

 the Robinia (Locust-trees), for instance, or with the large 

 shrub-like Lotus, and other woody Leguminosae, will en- 

 able him to recognize the numerous representatives of 

 that family, forming so large, a part of the equatorial 

 vegetation ; and, even should he never have seen speci- 

 mens of the Mimosa in gardens or hot-houses, their deli- 

 cate, susceptible foliage will make them known to him ; 

 he cannot fail to be struck with the inexhaustible com 

 binations and forms of their pinnate leaves, as well as with 

 the variety in their tints of green, the diversity in their 

 clusters of leaves and in their pods and seeds. But there 

 are families with which he fancies himself equally familiar, 

 the tropical representatives of which will never seem to him 

 like old acquaintances. Thus the tree which furnishes the 

 Indian rubber belongs to the Milk-weed family. Every 

 one knows the Milk-weeds of the North, to be seen, as 

 humble herbs, all along the roadsides, on the edges of 

 our woods and in the sands of our beaches. Yet on the 

 Amazons, the Euphorbiaceae, so small and unobtrusive with 

 us, assume the form of colossal trees, constituting a con- 

 siderable part of its strange and luxuriant forest-growth. 

 The giant of the Amazonian woods, whose majestic flat 

 crown towers over all other trees, while its white trunk 

 stands out in striking relief from the surrounding mass 

 of green (the Sumaum^ra), is allied to our mallows. 

 Some of the most characteristic trees of the river-shore 

 belong to these two families. Our paleontologists who 

 attempt to restore the forests of older geological times 



