Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/29

Rh a constant feature of the brackish and fresh-water swamps, form dense thickets, the crowded bare stems forming a close palisade fringing the margins of the rivers. With the decrease in the salinity of the water, also, palms of various kinds begin to appear, and these constitute quite the most striking growths of the forest along the fresh-water streams. They occur in immense numbers and great variety, and some of them are extremely beautiful. First in abundance—and perhaps also in beauty—is Euterpe oleracea, whose slender stems and graceful crowns of feathery leaves occur by thousands. Other conspicuous palms are species of Attalea, Maximiliana, Astrocaryum, Manicaria, and others. Several small palms, especially species of Bactris, occur in great numbers as an undergrowth in these swampy forests. Another striking palm is a Desmoncos, whose flexible thorny stems and graceful pinnate leaves, armed with savage hooked thorns, were festooned from tree to tree. This palm closely resembles the rattan palms of the old world. Its large clusters of scarlet berries were conspicuous, and often attracted attention as the boat skirted the dense mass of vegetation along the shore.

In addition to the many native palms, a number of exotic species are cultivated. Among these are the African oil-palm (Elæis guinensis), the royal palm and the cocoanut. The last, however, does not thrive, due perhaps to the excessive moisture in the soil.

A very common and wide-spread member of the tropical American flora is the genus Cecropia, whose slender branches and big palmate leaves occur everywhere.

As might be expected, the development of climbing plants is extremely luxuriant in these wet forests, and in many cases the lower trees and bushes were almost smothered by the dense curtain of creepers of various kinds with which they were draped. These creepers belong to very diverse families—Convolvulaceæ, Passifloraceæ, Apocynaceæ, Melastomaceæ, etc., and many of them have flowers of extraordinary beauty, which add much to the attractiveness of these rich forests.

Very different from the wet forests are the "savannas," one of which was visited. These savannas are in many respects like the moorlands of more northern regions. The soil of the one visited was a coarse sand covered with a sparse growth of coarse grasses and sedges, with scattered clumps of low shrubs, among which were growing a number of orchids. Only one of these, a Catasetum with large greenish flowers, was found in bloom. There were here and there shallow pools, in which were growing tiny yellow Utrieularias and minute Eriocaulaceæ and Xyridaceæ. Under the clumps of shrubs were noticed small patches of Sphagnum, and a small species of Drosera closely resembling in form the common D. rotundifolia of