98 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
flowers, growing on the naked trunk, like those of 
so many Amazon trees, consist of a single large 
yellow petal, and of numerous declinate stamens, 
yellow above, violet below ; and they are followed 
by legumes like those of the horse-bean. 
Among the climbing plants, Norontea guianensis, 
an odd Guttifer, shot forth from the mass of its 
dark green foliage as it were jets of flame — spikes 
of 2 feet long, bearing each some two hundred 
curious pouch-like bracts of the finest rose-colour, 
accompanied by minute purple flowers. A Com- 
bretum was very showy from its cylindrical spikes 
of flowers, each consisting of a tubular calyx, w^ith 
minute yellow petals stuck just within it, and long 
thread-like stamens, of a deep red, hanging out of 
it. Drepanocarpus ferox, Mart., bore panicles of 
pretty purple vetch-like flowers, not, however, to 
be plucked without risk, on account of the strong 
hooked prickles of the stem. 
But the most curious plants grew on the rocks 
of the caxoeira, where they were kept constantly 
moist by the foaming waters. They were Podo- 
stemeae — a family in which are strangely blended 
polypetalous flowers with foliage resembling that of 
seaweeds or lichens, or sometimes of Jungermannias. 
They were in great abundance, and had eaten the 
hard rock into holes, reminding me of the way in 
which our chalk cliffs in England are eroded by 
a minute moss ( Weissia calcarea) and by certain 
lichens (Verrucariae). I gathered three kinds, 
the handsomest being a new species [Mourera 
alcicornis), with pale violet flowers, and fronds 
recalling those of Iceland moss [Cetraria islandica). 
In sandy places among the rocks flourished a 
