THE EQUATORIAL FORESTS 41 
exquisite odours, I recall with the greatest zest 
those scenes which yielded me the greatest amount 
of novelty. But we are again losing sight of the 
flowers, and, sooth to say, the flowers of Amazonian 
trees are often so inconspicuous, either from their 
minuteness or from their green colour assimilating 
them to the leaves, that none but a botanist ever 
would see them. There are doubtless many 
glorious exceptions ; but it was not until some 
years after I had left Para, and had penetrated to 
the northern border of the Amazon valley, that I 
realised my preconceived notion of the loftiest 
trees of the forest bearing the most gorgeous 
flowers. At Para the Leguminifers and Bignoniads, 
both as trees and as lianas, outshine all other orders 
in the abundance and beauty of their flowers. Of 
the former, the taller-growing Cassias and a Sclero- 
lobium are crowned with a profusion of golden 
flowers ; but far more elegant are the large pure 
white prince's-feather-like flowers of the Bauhinias, 
coupled with their odd hoof-like leaves. Of the 
latter order (Bignoniads), the lofty Tecomas are, 
in their season, one mass of purple or yellow, from 
the abundance of large foxglove-like flowers, often 
unmixed with any leaves. The showy white or 
red gum-secreting flowers of the Clusias and other 
Guttifers, and their ample glossy, rigid leaves, are 
sure to attract the botanist's early attention. Some 
Tiliads (Molliae sp.) are studded with large star-like 
white flowers, as striking in their way as the gaudy 
stars of the passion-flowers that spangle the liana- 
curtain skirting the rivers. Most novel to the 
European botanist are the curious leathery, dull- 
coloured, but often richly- scented flowers of the 
