422 
MOUNTAIN SHRUBS. 
an elevation, formed a striking contrast with the willows* 
scattered on the depth of the more temperate valley of 
Caracas. ¥e here discovered plants of European forms, 
situated below those of the torrid zone. 
After proceeding for the space of four hours across the 
savannahs, we entered into a little wood composed of shrubs 
and small trees, called el Pejual ; doubtless from the great 
abundance here of the pejoa (Gaultheria odorata), a plant 
with very odoriferous leaves.f The steepness of the moun- 
tain became less considerable, and we felt an indescribable 
pleasure m examining the plants of this region. Nowhere 
perhaps, can be found collected together, in so small a space 
productions so beautiful, and so remarkable in regard to 
the geography of plants. At the height of a thousand 
toises, the lofty savannahs of the hills terminate in a zone of 
shrubs which, by their appearance, their tortuous branches, 
their stiff leaves, and the magnitude and beauty of their 
purple flowers, remind us of what is called, in the Cordil- 
leras of the Andes, the vegetation of the paramos and the 
punas. \ vVe there find the family of the alpine rhododen- 
drons, the tliibaudias, the andromedas, the vaccininms, and 
those befarias with resinous leaves, which we have several 
times compared to the rhododendron of our European 
Alps. v 
-liven when nature does not produce the same species in 
analogous climates, either in the plains of isothermal pa- 
rallels^ or on table-lands, the temperature of which re- 
“ Salix Humboldtiana of Willdenouw. On the alpine palm-trees, see 
my Prolegomena de Dist. Plant, p. 235. 
+ It a great advantage of the Spanish language, and a peculiarity 
which it shares in common with the Latin, that, from the name of a tree, 
may be derived a word designating an association or group of trees of the 
same species. Thus are formed the words olivar, robledar, and pinal, 
from ohm, ruble, and pino. The Hispano-Americans have added lunal, 
pejual, gvayaval, &c., places where a great many Cactuses, Gualtheria 
odoratas, and Psidiums, grow together. 
t For the explanation of these words, see p. 178. 
§ We may compare together cither latitudes which in the same hemi. 
sphere present the same mean temperature (as, for instance, Pennsylvania 
and the central part of France, Chile and the southern part of New Hoi- 
land); or we may consider the relations that may exist between the- 
vegetation of the two hemispheres under isothermal parallels. 
