3di 



Calabozo and St. Jerome del Pirital, these 

 grasses scarcely attain the height of nine or ten 

 inches. Near the banks of the Apure and the 

 Portuguesa they rise to four feet in height, so 

 that the jaguar can conceal himself among them, 

 to spring upon the mules and horses that cross 

 the plain. Mingled with these gramina some 

 plants of the dicotyledonous class are found ; as 

 turneras, malvaceae, and, what is very remark- 

 able, little mimosas* with irritable leaves, called 

 by the Spaniards dormideras. The same breed 

 of cows, which fatten in Spain on sainfoin and 

 clover, have found excellent nourishment in the 

 herbaceous sensitive plants. The pastures where 

 these sensitives particularly abound are sold 

 dearer than others. To the East, in the Llanos 

 of Cari and Barcelona, the cypura and the cra- 

 niolaria *f~, the beautiful white flower of which is 

 from six to eight inches long, rise solitarily amid 

 the gramina. The pastures are richest not only 

 around the rivers subject to inundations, but 

 also wherever the trunks of palm-trees are nearer 

 each other. The least fertile spots are those 

 destitute of trees ; and attempts to cultivate 

 them would be nearly fruitless. We cannot at- 



reptans, paspalum lepiostachyum, p. conjugatum,aristidarecwr- 

 vata. See our Nov. Genera et Species, vol. i, p. 84 — 243. 



* Turnera guyanensis, mimosa pigra, m. dortniens. 



+ Cypura graminea, craniolaria annua (the scorzonera of 

 the natives). 



