50 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



who provided us with that most apt colour phrase which so 

 exactly expresses a tone which one means without binding one 

 down too closely to the colour of any particular wine.) Broad- 

 leaved Aroids grow in the stream at the sides, their leaves and 

 white or green flower- spathes constantly swaying with the 

 current. Here and there a fallen tree, often, in these higher 

 grounds, of some size, lies across the water, its upper surface 

 covered with a close-growing carpet of thin moss, its lower 

 surface almost constantly wetted by the running water. On the 

 higher part of such a trunk are grass-like tufts of Zygopctalum 

 graminifolium, its erect, hair-like flower stems carrying two or 

 three most daintily beautiful yellow, brown barred flowers, its 

 thick fleshy white roots at first twisted much together, and then 

 spreading out over the surface of the bark and reaching down 

 far enough to bathe their growing points in the water. On both 

 sides of the trunk, just where the deeper colour of the moss 

 indicates the average height to which the water level of the 

 stream rises at certain seasons, the turf of the moss is every- 

 where penetrated by the threadlike wiry rhizomes of a very 

 minute but very lovely Pleurothallis ( ? P. acutissima of 

 Coigneaux' " Flora Brasiliensis "), the tiny, acutely pointed 

 leaves of which are hardly distinguishable from the mossy 

 covering of the bark, while the small purple twin flowers, in 

 that they are carried well over the foliage, are only a little more 

 easily seen, though if put under the microscope they appear as 

 amongst the most gorgeous of Orchid flowers. 



A few sandstone rocks crop out over the surface of the water, 

 their tops above water level clad with similar moss to that on 

 the tree trunk. Higher up the stream, toward the head of the 

 miniature reach, these rocks are more numerous, barring the 

 water, which there dashes through the channels between the 

 rocks with some small force. On the higher parts of such 

 rocklets, ever wetted by the spray from the top falls, grow 

 exquisite ittle clumps of a rare and beautiful little Orchid, Cheira- 

 denia cuspidata f each plant a delightful little cluster of leaves, 

 well over which the very fine but sturdy flower stalk carries the 

 magnificent little flowers. 



I cannot refrain from giving one more creek scene, this time 

 much nearer to the sea. The deep sluggish water here winds 

 through a swamp almost entirely covered by masses of a prickly 

 palm (Bactris l&ptocarpa, Trail), the grey-green stems and 



