Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/68

 Many of the woody lianas suspended from trees are not climbers but the air-roots of epiphytous plants (Aroideæ), which sit on the stronger boughs of the trees above, and hang down straight as plumb-lines. Some are suspended singly, others in leashes; some reach halfway to the ground and others touch it, striking their rootlets into the earth. The underwood in this part of the forest was composed partly of younger trees of the same species as their taller neighbours, and partly of palms of many species, some of them twenty to thirty feet in height, others small and delicate, with stems no thicker than a finger. These latter (different kinds of Bactris) bore small bunches of fruit, red or black, often containing a sweet grape-like juice.

Further on the ground became more swampy, and we had some difficulty in picking our way. The wild banana (Urania Amazonica) here began to appear, and, as it grew in masses, imparted a new aspect to the scene. The leaves of this beautiful plant are like broad sword-blades, eight feet in length and a foot broad; they rise straight upwards, alternately, from the top of a stem five or six feet high. Numerous kinds of plants with leaves similar in shape to these but smaller, clothed the ground. Amongst them were species of Marantaceæ, some of which had broad glossy leaves, with long leafstalks radiating from joints in a reed-like stem. The trunks of the trees were clothed with climbing ferns, and Pothos plants with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. Bamboos and other tall grass and reed-like plants arched over the pathway. The appearance of this part of the forest was strange in the extreme; description