Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/37

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he native flora of Cinchona Hill is a varied and interesting one. Being south of the mountains, and on a sharp ridge with perfect drainage, the soil often gets quite dry. Especially is this true of the small pockets of humus in the rock clefts occupied by the numerous rock xerophytes, and of that gathered on the limbs of trees or held among the clustered roots of epiphytic orchids. We find here, therefore, many species characteristic of these xerophytic habitats. There are century plants, leathery-leafed terns, aroids, bromeliads, orchids and Peperomias growing in the clefts of the rocks and on the branches of trees and shrubs. Climbing or creeping ferns, aroids, orchids, milkweeds and cacti run over the ledges and larger plants. On the branches of the juniper and Dodonaea, of the thick-leafed Vaccinium, and even of the nearly leafless Baccharis on the dry hillsides, many species of leafy or