Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/39

Rh Cinchona, toward the mountains, a hundred species of ferns may be seen in an hour's walk without leaving the path. Professor Underwood estimated that four fifths of the 500 species native to Jamaica occur within a day's ride of Cinchona. We may well note, by way of comparison, that but one hundred and fifteen species are given in Gray's Manual for the whole northeastern United States.

Lower down, for we have been speaking hitherto of the levels near that of the Cinchona residence, the vegetation on this south side of the Blue Mountains becomes more luxuriant in the valleys and more xerophytic on the ridges. In the former the trees, such as Alchornea latifolia and Prunuis occidentalis grow to a height of 60 or 70 feet, and lianes, such as Mauirandia, Begonia, Rhynchosia and Bidens climb to their tops, while a new series of ferns and shrubs make up the undergrowth. On the ridges also the plants have a different aspect. There are new species, to be sure, but even the same species, e. g., certain ferns.