Notes on Plants at Roraima. 171 
the one ledge which runs right up to the top, the one 
by which we ascended, is bush-clad to a point about two- 
thirds up, then bush-less but plant-covered. 
In the ascent from Teroota up to about 5000 feet, 
nearly up, that is, to the commencement of the El Do- 
rado swamp, We met with many plants new to me 
scattered among the usual savannah plants. Conspi- 
cuous among these were three orchids, two growing on 
bare pebble-covered ground, the third on the huge 
boulders scattered over the slope. The two former 
were Cyrtopodium parviflorum, Lindley, [No. 55] 
with its handsome spike, often eighteen inches high, of 
many yellow and purple flowers, and the delicately 
beautiful white-flowered Koellensteinia Kellneriana, 
Rch. f., [No. 6i]_ which latter grows also on the 
Kaieteur savannah. The third of the above mentioned 
orchids was the curious Masdavallia brevzs, Rch. f., 
[No. 286] with flowers more remarkable than beautiful. 
Another striking new plant, also growing on the bould- 
ers of this part of the slope, was a remarkably handsome 
and large Puya (?) [No. 25] with flowers of a magnifi- 
cently deep indigo-blue, — a colour so rare in the tropics. 
This Puya Mr. Baker tells me is probably a new and 
interesting species, but the dried specimens of it which 
I deposited at Kew are unfortunately not sufficient for 
its determination. I have, however, some fine young 
living plants of the species. 
I come now to the description of the El Dorado swamp, 
for the place is really so remarkable botanically as to be 
worthy of distinction under this name. It is worth also 
another effort to give some pi6ture of the appearance of 
the place. The swamp — botanists will understand that 
Y 2 
