50 



/ 



branches of the loftiest trees. Of the phsenero- 

 gamous plants, the families that prevail in the 

 woody spots are the mimosas, ficuses, and the 

 laurineas*. This fact is the more characteristic, 

 as, according to the recent observation of Mr. 

 Brown, the laurineae appear to be almost en- 

 tirely wanting on the opposite continent in the 

 equinoctial part of Africa. Plants that love 

 humidity adorn the scenery surrounding the 

 cataract. We there find in the plains groups of 

 heliconias and other scitaminese with large and 

 glossy leaves, bambusas, and the three palm 

 trees, the murichi, jagua, and vadgiai, each of 

 which forms separate groups. The murichi, or 

 mauritia with scaly fruits, is the celebrated sago- 

 tree of the Guaraon Indians ; it is a real social 

 plant*f~. It has palmate leaves, and has no rela- 

 tion to the palm trees with pinnate and curled 

 leaves; to the jagua, which appears to be a 

 species of the cocoa tree ; or to the vadgiai ^ or 



* The laurineas of the low and hot region of Equinoctial 

 America are ocoteas, (as for example, between Carichana 

 and San Fernando de Atabapo, ocotea lineata, ocotea cymba- 

 rum, ocotea javitonsis). Other laurineas (the perseas, and 

 the litseas) appear to belong to the subalpine and temperate 

 region, which rises to more than from five hundred to eight 

 hundred toises above the level of the ocean. See our Nov. 

 Genera et Species, vol. ii, p. 157 and 169. 



+ See vol. iv, p. 334 5 and vol. iii, p. 278. 



% Or vadschiai in the Parequa language. See our Nov. 

 Genera et Species Plant., vol. i, p. 315. 



