VII 
AT MANAOS 
257 
has seen the common Myrtle of the south of Europe 
might swear to a Myrtle in any part of the world. 
They are remarkable for their simultaneous and 
ephemeral flowers. On a given day all the Myrtles 
of a certain species, scattered throughout the forest, 
will be clad with snowy fragrant flowers ; on the 
following day nothing of flowers appears save 
withered remnants. Hence it comes that if the 
botanist neglect to gather his Myrtles on the very 
day they burst into flower, he cannot expect to 
number them among his " laurels." Another order, 
nearly allied in structure, but without anything in 
the European flora to which it can well be com- 
pared, is Melastomaceae — equally abundant with 
Myrtles, and richer in species. Their ribbed 
opposite leaves afford an almost never- failing 
character, and there are some very pretty things 
among them. These two orders, with Solaneae 
and Lauraceae, form the mass of the vegetation 
one sees in the vicinity of the towns. But of all 
orders, by far the most abundant constituent of 
the flora of the Amazon is Leguminosae. The 
species of this order constitute one-sixth of my 
whole collection of flowering plants and Ferns. 
Amongst them are some of the noblest trees of 
the virgin forest, some of the pleasantest fruits, 
and (what may surprise you) some of the strongest 
poisons. More than half of them have not papilio- 
naceous flowers (the Mimoseae and Caesalpineae), 
and would therefore be quite strange to an English 
botanist ; some have even drupaceous fruits, and 
hence approach Chrysobalaneae, an order which 
exists here in great abundance, resembling (I wish 
I could say supplying the place of) the plums and 
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