Martius on the Botany of Brazil.

JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Volume 4
1842
WJ Hooker


I.—Martius on the Botany of Brazil.

It is well known to our readers that the most accomplished of all Brazilian Botanists, Dr Von Martius, besides the valuable and splendid works of plates and descriptive matter which have already appeared, or are in course of preparation, has issued Fasciculi of dried specimens illustrative of the Flora of that extensive region, under the title of Herbarium Florae Brasiliensis. The Introduction to the catalogue of plants in this herbarium contains so much valuable and interesting information, that we think we cannot do better than occupy some of the pages of our Journal with extracts from the original memoir which has appeared in a German periodical publication, too little known in this country, the Flora oder Allgemeine Botanische Zeitung; in the supplement of the 2d volume for the year 1837. We shall, probably, on a future occasion, publish also the list of the species contained in the herbarium, accompanied as it is by remarks which are of the greatest importance to the student of Brazilian Botany. -Ed.


Dr Martius commences his introductory observations by saying, that in publishing the first part of his Catalogue Raisonée of the plants of Brazil, he considers it necessary to offer some remarks:—1st. On the botanical collections that had been made, and the travels that had been performed by his predecessors. 2dly. On the geographical distribution of the vegetable forms; and 3dly. On the plan the author has himself pursued in determining the plants of Brazil, and in the formation of the herbarium of the Flora of Brazil.

Journ. of Hot. Vol. IV. No. 25. June, 1841. A
p.2

1. The Literary History of the Flora of Brazil.
Four centuries have scarcely elapsed since Cabral (in 1500) discovered Brazil, and yet the amount of species of plants brought from thence to Europe is so great, as to be considered to exceed those of the entire Flora of Europe. Without any fear of exaggeration it may be fairly admitted, that the number cultivated in the gardens and preserved in the herbaria of Europe, exceeds 15,000. Dr Martius further estimates that this amount can only be reckoned a fourth part of all the species of plants that grow within the limits of the Brazilian territory, a country which, according to the lowest computation, measures 257,000 square leagues (of 20 to a degree,) and which includes, from the descent of the Serra Parimé to La Plata, and from the eastern declivity of the cis-Andes (vor Andes) to the Atlantic ocean, the most varied climates ; notwithstanding that the mountains nowhere reach to the snow-line. It is the extent and importance of such a Flora which led to the undertaking of this " Herbarium Florae Brasiliensis;" seeing that the idea of writing a satisfactory Flora of such a country could not be accomplished by one individual ;—and still more futile would it be to attempt a completely illustrated work of the multiplied forms of the vegetable kingdom there, even though confined to such as are already known to Europeans. But when a considerable number of species of plants, from the different provinces of the empire, are faithfully designated and deposited both in public and private Museums, the knowledge of the particular species is perpetuated in an easy and certain manner. How the mass of materials towards such an object has increased to its present extent, by the industry of naturalists who have laboured in the Brazils, we shall now proceed to show.

The first authors who have made particular mention of Brazilian plants, are—1. Thevet, "Singularites de la France antarctique." Paris, 1554. 2. Levy, " Historia Navigationis in Brasiliam." Paris, 1585. 3. " Abbeville, Histoire de la Mission de P. P. Capucins en l' isle de Maragnon." Paris, 1614. 4. The unknown author (probably Francisco da Cunha) of the " Noticias do Brazil," who wrote in Bahia in 1589,

p.3
and sent his MSS. to the minister Don Christovam da Moura; but which was not printed till 1825, and then by the Royal Academy of Science at Lisbon, in their " Noticias para a Historia geografia das Na9oes ultramarinas," Tom III.—5. Jos de Anchieta, " Epistola quam plurimarum rerum naturalium, quae S. Vincentii (nunc S. Pauli) Provinciam incolunt sis tens description em, a Didaco de Toledo Lara Ordonhez,* &c. &c., Olisip," 1799. The merits of these works are not discussed by Dr Martius. They are considered as the counterpart to the works of Petrus Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, Acosta, P. de Cieca and others, who, in the olden time, described the plants of the Antilles, and others of the Spanish colonies. They all notice the common American useful and medical plants, agreeably to the low state of the sciences at that time. They are therefore of the greatest interest to the historical inquirer into the native country of particular vegetables, the mode of cultivation and application to various purposes, and the nomenclature of the aborigines. On this account they merit greater attention than one is accustomed to pay to them, while, on the other hand, to the mere systematic botanist they are of subordinate value.

The literature of a Natural History (in the stricter sense of the words,) of Brazilian Botany, may be said to have commenced with Piso and Marcgrav. Most of the species that are introduced in the very valuable work of these Patres Florae Brasiliensis, (G. Piso, Historia naturalis Brasiliae. Amstel, 1648,) were, for that time, described with great clearness; and in point of fidelity and solid information, it surpasses the similar work of Hernandez on the Natural History of Mexico: and it is to be wished it were quoted with more regard to the various editions than is usually done. Besides the wood-cuts which illustrate the work itself, there exist, as is known, in Germany, the original drawings by

* The old edition of this worthy converter of the Heathens and of Thammaburg Anchieta, who was known to be active in the year 1554 in the province of St Vincent, is one of the rarest of the literary production* on Brazil.


p.4
Marcgrav and Fr. Post. They are preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin, under the title of "Liber Principis;" and through the kindness of Messrs Ehrenberg and Von Schlechtendal, Dr Martius is in possession of copies which have materially assisted him in determining some few, yet apocryphal, species of plants.

2. Upon the expulsion of the Dutch from Pernambuco, Bahia and Ceara, the whole country returned again under the dominion of Portugal, and the ignorance of this people regarding its Natural History was so deplorable, that the learned Padre Vieira, one of the greatest pulpit orators of the Portuguese nation, and no mean classical writer, declared his opinion that all the spices of the East Indies grew wild, or were naturalized in the Brazils. A century now elapsed before the smallest knowledge of the Flora of the country was obtained. The first who deserved any merit on this account, was Dominicus Vandelli of Padua, who was called, by the intellectual and powerful minister Pombal, to Coim- bra, and afterwards to Lisbon, there to teach chemistry and botany. Many of his pupils sent him plants from Brazil, which were partly published by himself, (some were received by Linnaeus), and they were deposited in the Natural History Cabinet at Lisbon, till, after the attack of the French troops under Junot, they were carried off and placed in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The most active correspondent of Vandelli was, his pupil Vellozo, born at Minas, a Jesuit, and probably the same who is called by Vandelli, Dr Joaquim Velloso de Miranda. From him were received according to the authority of Senr. Joam Gomez, (Director of the Garden at Rio de Janeiro), most of the species of plants from the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Minas, which Vandelli published in a very indifferent manner in his " Fasciculus* Plantarum cum novis Generibus et Speciebus,"

* This " Fasciculus" appeared at Lisbon, in 4to, in 1774 ; and his " specimen" in a " Diccionario dos Termos technicos de Historia Naturel, fyc. Coimbra, 1788," and also in another separate form. It is exceedingly rare. Dr Maiiiti? Sh\v it only once in Brazil. Both arc known to have been republished in Romer's " Scriptoret de Plantii Hispa-iicis, Lusitanicis, Brasiliensibus." Nuremb. 1797.

and in his " Florae Lusitanicae et Brasiliensis Specimen." Other species of the Province of Para, Vandelli received from the physician of the governor of the Estado de Paru, Don Mendoza Furtado, the brother of Pombal, and from Dr Brandam, the vicar-general of Para. The exertions of Vellozo were far more productive than those even of his teacher. During a residence of several years in the house of a priest at Mariana, he collected and described a great part of the plants that presented themselves to his researches in the fertile and hilly environs of that town. His manuscripts found their way to many of his scholars at Villa Rica, some are now in Dr Martius' possession, and Dr Gomides of Mariana employed others of them in the compilation of his work on officinal plants of Minus, (July, 1814.) Colonel Joam. Gomez da Silveira Mendonça, afterwards director of the powder manufactory, and subsequently Minister of Marine, was one of his pupils.

When Vellozo returned to the capital, he occupied himself especially with the Flora of the environs of Rio de Janeiro, and towards the end of the last century and during the beginning of the present one, he prepared a large collection of drawings, which were preserved in the public library at Rio, and which now (too late not to be greatly behind the present state of the rapidly progressing science), have been lithographed and published. Hence has originated the " Flora Fluminensis," a strange publication, which may be held up as an example of an ill-advised literary undertaking, and on so great a scale that it ought never to have been commenced. Eleven huge folio volumes with about fifteen hundred* plates constitute this bulky work, whose usefulness is, alas ! not in proportion to the expense it occasioned. Very many genera that are here introduced as new, are not so, but known before; others, with old names, are either new

have been republished in Rõmer's "Scriptores de Plantis Hispanicus, Lusitanicus, Brasilensibus." Nuremb. 1797
* The Editor of the Index says 1640

p.6
or old species and old genera inaccurately detailed. The genus adopted is often extended beyond all bounds; thus for example, as species of Mimosa, not only Mimosae and Acaciae occur, but also Swartzia. The pompous title of this book runs thus: " Petro nomine ac imperio primo Brasiliensis Imperil perpetuo defensore imo fundatore scientiarum artium litterarumque patrono et cultore jubente Florae Fluminensis Icones nunc primo eduntur. Edidit Dom. Frat. Antonius da Arrabida, Episcopus de Anemuria, Caesarese Majestatis a Consiliis, nee non Confessor, Cappelani maxitni Coadjutor, studiorum Principum ex imp. stirpe Moderator et imper. publicaeque Bibliothecse in urbe Flutninensi Prsefectus. Paris ex offic. lithogr. Senefelder, curante E. Knecht. 1827."

(This is really a literary curiosity, and is not unknown to many of our botanists in Britain, who have been tempted to purchase it; often, if my memory does not fail me, for a sum in Paris scarcely exceeding £3 sterling, an amount which is trebled and quadrupled by the duty and binding. The following is a brief historical notice of this work given by Von Martius in a note, and many of the particulars we have heard verified through other channels.— Ed.)

Vellozo had undertaken the preparation of this work with but little literary aid, and he had annexed to his drawings short characters of the genus and species. It was not then his intention that it should be published in this state. But when Don Pedro, in 1824, saw the first number of Dr Martius' " Nova Genera et Species," he exclaimed, " is it so, that foreigners must come in order to describe our plants; cannot we do this ourselves ?" He then took the advice of his father confessor, and it was determined that the whole of the drawings that Vellozo had left should be lithographed in Paris, and the text for it printed in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Embassy was hence charged to make a contract with Senefelder for the lithographing and printing* a thousand copies,

p. 7
and it was commenced with all becoming ardour; but the whole contract was not completed when those events occurred which drove Don Pedro from his throne. The money consequently failed, and as the person who was commissioned to supply the paper was not remunerated, he seized the work, of which a great number of impressions was sold as waste paper and actually served for making cartridges, and employed in the war of the French in Algiers ! The rest came into the market, and, as may be believed, were offered to the trade at very low prices, perhaps for little more, or even less than the value of the paper.* The text, it was

p. 8
intended should appear in Brazil, in numbers accompanying every ten plates, but none appeared except with the first number. The same evil star seems to have attended this great undertaking (which has cost the Imperial Brazilian

* The Editor of the " Indtx Iconorum Floras Fluminensis," which has since been published in Paris, gives, and we should think upon good authority, a different and more extravagant statement. " Les agents du gouvernement Bresilien accepte'rent lea propositions de M. Knecht successeur de Senefelder. ils fixerent le nombre d'epreuves à tirer du chaque plante à 3,000 ; et, malgre les representations dc plusieurs persounes competentes, et de l'imprimeur lui-meme, sur l'inutilite d'un si grand tirage, le gouvernement du Bresil persista dans le chiffre qu 'il avait ordonne. Ainsi cinq millions et demi (1,640 plates were executed at Paris according to this author) d' epreuves devaient etre executees dans l'espace de huit annees, avec reserve de la part de M. Knecht de les fournir a une epoque plus rapprochee, s'il le jugeait convenable. En vertu de cette convention, Touvrage a termine en quatre annees et quatre mois, et les derni- eres livraisons etaient deja sous presse lorsque 1'ordre de suspendre le tirage arriva; circonstance qui fut provoquee par les evenements qui arae- nerent 1'abdication de Don Pedro. Les chambres du Bresil avaient con- stamment deaapprouve une entreprise aussi colossale et aussi couteuse ; mais il ^tait trop tard pour refuser les deux dernirres livraisons qui devaient completer 1'ouvrage, compose en totalito de soixante livraisons; de tulle sorte que les 1,640 gravures etaient entierement achevees a Paris, quand 1'iaiprcssion du texte n' etait arrivee q'au tiers a Rio de Janeiro."
* To complete the history of this magnificent abortion, which would probably soon have sunk into oblivion, but for the flattering representations made of it by more than one distinguished individual, who might be considered competent judges, and for the fact that De Candolle and other eminent scientific men have thought the plates worthy of being quoted, we shall give a translation of the " Prospectus," which appeared with the number.
" It is with the highest satisfaction that we announce to the scientilic world the appearance of the greater portion of the botanical works of our countryman the Reverend Brother Joseph Marianno da Conceiao Villozo, a Franciscan of the province of Rio Janeiro, and native of Minus Geraes.

This work, entitled 'Flora Fluminensis," contains descriptions of 1639 species of plants.
"This valuable manuscript, the fruit of much labour, science and precision, is complete as regards the plates, but some deficiencies exist in a few of the latter descriptions. This slight omission will, however, be little felt in an age when this department of Natural History has attained such perfection.
" The author dedicated it in 1790, to Louis de Vasconcellos, since created Count de Figueiro, his patron. The work obtained him the honour of being summoned to the court of Lisbon, where he enjoyed not only the notice and esteem of all amateurs of Natural History, but also of the learned and noble individuals who acknowledged his distinguished merit. Government testified its confidence in his talents, by intrusting to him several scientific works of different kinds, and he was, moreover, selected to establish and direct a school of chalcography and literature, whose happy results were highly beneficial to science and the arts, while they proved at the same time, his learning, industry and zeal.
" The Reverend Jos. Marianus Vellozo, inspired by the force and energy which genius communicates, developed his talents in the execution of this work, an undertaking the more meritorious when we consider his advanced age ; for the greater part of his life had been spent in the strictest observance of his religious duties, his residence in a country subjected to the severity of colonial legislation, and his situation, which was isolated and almost indigent, though abounding in those riches of nature's productions, which he ulone knew how to appreciate, and which are so lavishly scattered over this part of the world.
" Addressing his descriptions to the learned, our'author preferred writing in the Latin language, and we must do him the justice to confess, that he is almost always happy in the choice of his expressions, which are eminently sonorous and harmonious; those names of ancient or modern sfavans being selected, which are of agreeable sound and easy to be retained in the memory, thus avoiding a fault into which many of the most eminent writers in this line have fallen. Nor did be neglect the great advantage of perpetuating such names of plants as are used among the original inhabitants of the country, because they mostly convey to the mind that kind of utility which they may possess. To crown the result of his painful researches, Vellozo had the advantage of finding in the recesses of his cloister, and among his brethren, some skilful draughtsmen, whose excellent delineations leave nothing to be desired in the original designs from which these beautiful plates, long the admiration of connoisseurs, have been copied.

p.9
government above a million of francs) that has always accompanied the Spanish and Portuguese governments in publishing the Floras of their other colonies. The " Flora Peruviano-Chilensis," by Ruiz and Pavon, one half of which has

"Still, though possessing such valuable claims on the esteem of the learned, this work remained for a number of years, buried under the dust of the imperial library shelves, neglected, unknown, and lost to the honour of Brazilian talent. As soon, however, as by a fortunate accident, the existence and merits of the manuscript were made known to Don Pedro I., his majesty, as founder of the Brazilian Empire, and patron of the talents of his subjects, commanded that the text should be immediately consigned for printing to the national press, and that the designs should be transmitted to Paris, there, and also at the expense of government, to be engraved by M. Knecht, the successor and worthy pupil of M. Sencfelder, who invented the art of lithography. By this arrangement, these designs now appear in the greatest perfection, printed on fine vellum paper. A few copies of Mill larger size were taken off, for preservation in the libraries of the curious.
" Doubtless, among the learned admirers of this work, there will be some who would have preferred that the Flora Ftwnineusis were completed, by the addition not only of the new discoveries that twelve years have witnessed through the investigations of celebrated European travellers in Brazil, but also by filling up the gaps which exist in some portions of the text, and thus harmonizing it with the perfection of the plates, and rendering the book, as they may judge, more worthy of this enlightened age. But who does not feel, that with so many changes, the Flora Fluminensis would be no longer the work of Vellozo, an author already most advantageously known, as having produced an infinity of printed and translated publications ? And would it not be an insult to his fame, thus to bolster it up by foreign means? Assuredly, we ought to respect a production, whose materials have been collected, described and classified, with so much discernment, perfection and labour—written in the year 1790 ;—a work which the munificence of his Imperial Majesty has caused to be printed as a monument of Brazilian talent, indicative of that elevation which the genius of the nation, so eminently to the arts and sciences, can attain, and which will never fail of meeting with encouragement from his Imperial bounty.
" Finally, that we may gratify our national amour propre consistently with perfect delicacy, we frankly own that this production of our countryman is neither complete as a botanical work, nor a perfect instance: it is neither more nor less than the work of Vellozo, transmitted through imperial munificence to posterity,—such as the author left it, in its beauties and in its faults. Can the sublime effusions of a Linnaeus, a Tourncfort, or a Buf- Vol. IV.—No. 25. B

p.10
alone been published, and the results of the grand expedition of the celebrated Mutis lie buried in the chests of the Botanic Garden of Madrid.
The next author on the Flora of Brazil mentioned by

fan, be pronounced free from imperfection,—nay, from error ? If the natural sciences themselves are still far from attaining perfection, this is not because the human mind has continued stagnant and inactive; for, on the contrary, it has lately honoured itself by prodigious discoveries, especially made during the past century. But, for this very reason, it becomes more and more interesting and honourable to compare what is ancient with what is modern, and to render justice to merit wherever it may be found. We feel certain, that all learned men, all friends to science, whether natives of this country or foreigners, will applaud this enterprise, and, while acknowledging the interest that it inspires, will join with the zealous partisans of the national honour and glory to promote its success. In a word, that we may not be taxed with partiality, we will finish this slight sketch of our author's work, by adducing the opinions of those eminent individuals, who were permitted to see and consult it, either in the Imperial Library at Paris ; among others, his excellency Viscount de St Leopold, M. M. Spix, Martins, Aubert du Petit Thouars, St Hiluire, &c., and hero quoting what they wrote respecting it. The former, in his annals of the Province of St Peter, when speaking of the celebrated plant Mate, says, ' M. de St Hilaire has communicated to me a description of it,' adding, that he ' had seen a very correct drawing of the plant in the Flora Flttmincnsis of Velloro, (where it was, however, improperly named Chomelia amara,) the production of a man of great merit, who, unprepared by preliminary study, and impelled solely by his own genius, has undertaken and executed several long and difficult botanical excursions. May the Flora Fluminensis no longer continue unpublished and overlooked in the library at Rio Janeiro! Such are my wishes, prompted alike by a desire for the promotion of science, and for an act of justice towards the memory of one who is the ornament of his country, and a credit to the religious order, of whose rule he ever proved himself a strict observer.'
" The wishes of this zealous citizen and estimable writer are now accomplished. M. de St Hilaire expressed the same desire in a note of his book entitled History of the most remarkable Plants of Brazil and Paraguay, when he says, ' Vellozo is the author of Flora Fluminensis, a work now existing in mst. at Rio Janeiro, and of which it is much to be desired that the magnificent drawings could be published.' It is our privilege, at the present day, to congratulate this eminent writer on the fulfilment of his wishes.
" Finally, an individual, celebrated alike in arms and literature, as well as by the numerous researches that he made to discover the traces of the intrepid and unfortunate La Perouse,—we allude to M. Aubert du Peirt

p. 11
Von Martins was a native of Pernambuco, Manuel Arrudti da Camara. He was a disciple of Gouan at Montpellier, and undertook to introduce into Brazil a more rational mode of cultivating the Cotton, and employed his pen on the subject, (printed at Lisbon, 1799), as well as in composing a Flora of Pernambuco, a tract of country which had not been visited by any botanist since the days of Piso and Marcgrav. His draughtsman was one Martius Ribeiro, who afterwards, in the year 1816, was one of the ringleaders of the revolution of Pernambuco, and paid the forfeit of his crimes upon the gallows. The drawings for this Flora (" Cent. Plant. Pernamb." MS.) is at present in the hands of the brother of the author, Francisco Arruda da Camara. Manuel further published at Rio in 1810, a Discourse on the utility of forming Public Gardens in the principal Provinces of Brazil, and on the substitutes for Hemp and Flax which may be found in Brazil, and for which the fibres of Urena sinuata have been strongly recommended. Both their Treatises appeared in Koster's Travels in Brazil.
Dr Alexandre Rodriguez Ferreira was doubtless one of the most learned and zealous men of the Portuguese nation, that has travelled in and investigated the Brazils; and he has done more for Botany than almost any individual, but it was not

Thouars, who thus expresses himself in a letter, addressed to thelithographer, M. Knecht. ' I have just glanced at the original drawings and their copies on stone which you have kindly transmitted to me. The broad and simple style of the designs is well adapted to give the general outline of the plants, and resembles that of Phunico, combined with more detail and correctness in the parts of the inflorescence. As to your copies, they appear to me as accurate as is possible, perfect fac similes, which give the happiest augury for the execution of the rest of the collection. The examination of these plates has led me to think that I might advantageously employ your style of engraving for the benefit of science, and to hasten the publication of my works which have already been too much retarded.'
" It is needless to say more either in favour of the original work, or of the execution of the present work; indeed, we may candidly confess, that the hopes which our patriotism entertained are even more than fulfilled—thoy are surpassed by the performance."

p.12
his fortune to become an author; and his memory continues to live only with the aged Brazilians, who have never ceased to praise his zeal and activity; or at Lisbon, where his collections are deposited. Ferreira was born at Bahia, on the 27th of April, 1756, and having studied at Coimbra, he was despatched in 1783, by the active Colonel and Minister of Marine, Martin de Millo e Castre, in pursuit of Natural History, and with a view to form collections in the provinces of Para, Rio Negro, and Mato Grosso. He was accompanied by two draughtsmen, Joaquim Jose do Cabo, and Jose Joaquim Freire, as also by a botanical gardener, Agostinho Jonquim do Cabo. In October, 1783, Ferreira arrived at Para, where, and at the island of Marajo, he spent twelvemonths. The following year he went in company of the Governor of Para, Martin de Sousa e Albuquerque, up the Amazon River, and then visited the Rio Negro and Rio Branco, to the north-western boundaries of Brazil. In August, 1788, he sailed up the Madeira River, and after a very troublesome journey of thirteen months, he arrived at Villa Bella, the capital of the Province of Mato Grosso. He arrived at the Villa de Cujaba, in June, 1790, and returned to Para in 1793. Here he shipped his collections, made during these almost ten years of travel, in Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, and all his curiosities connected with the Indians, for Lisbon, where he was appointed Director of the Museum of Natural History, and of the Botanic Garden. Of equal importance with these collections, were his journals and manuscripts, full of solid information and accurate descriptions and remarks, but which for reasons unknown to the world, were never published ; a circumstance which plunged this active- minded man into a state of deep melancholy. After his death in 1815, his MSS. came into the possession of Don Felix Avellar Brotero, an anxious, dilatory, and jealous man, who made no use whatever of them.
At the same school of Coimbra, was educated Joam da Silva Freijo. By command of his government, he undertook first a voyage to the Cape de Verd islands, and after

p. 13
wards he resided several years in the Capitania of Ciara. The official account of the Natural History and Geography of this Captaincy (Rio, 1815) affords no important results especially in Botany. Freijo served the state for a long time as Director of the Cabinet of Natural History at Rio de Janeiro.

Although three men of public spirit and great influence endeavoured, during the early part of the present century, to elevate the standard of Botany in Portugal and Brazil to a higher scale, yet their efforts were not crowned with any particular success. The first of these was Jose Correa da Serra, a Botanist, as his beautiful carpological works and his treatise on the Aurantiacece abundantly prove. As secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon, which he established through the influence of the Duke of Lafoens, he was actively engaged in correspondence with the Naturalists and men of science in Brazil, and thereby enriched the Museum of the Academy. The other two promoters of Botany were the minister of state, Don Rodriguez de Souza Continho, Conde de Linhares, and Ant. de Arauja de Conde da Barca. The first established a Botanic Garden at Para, where he for a long time resided as Governor, and where he especially wished to introduce the equatorial plants. Afterwards, when removed to Rio de Janeiro, as Minister of the Interior, he strove to improve the mode of instruction at the schools in the branches of Natural History ; he placed Professors in the schools of Medicine, and endowed the Cabinet of Natural History. Arauja himself was a cultivator, and he had in his private garden about 1400 species of plants, of which he made a Catalogue. To him the country is indebted for the formation, and afterwards the enlargement of the noble Botanic Garden at Rio (Jardin Botanico de Alagoa de Treilos) destined to receive all the useful plants of the tropics, and where the Tea Plant is cultivated by Chinese whom he introduced to the country. Notwithstanding this friendly encouragement, the science of Botany did not take deep root; and if at any time among the younger physicians

p.14
of talent, any one devoted more than ordinary attention to this pursuit, he was soon turned aside from it by the prospect of greater gain on his exertions taking a different direction.
A few Botanists only now need be mentioned, who exclusively belong to the present century. The first place among them on account of his zeal, his activity, and the universality of his knowledge, belongs to Bernardino Antonio Gomez, an eminent physician, and the discoverer of what his countrymen for a long time denied, a Cinchona. He has in the Memoirs of the Lisbon Academy, (in 1812,) described many interesting plants of the Brazils (with some figures) which he collected during his residence at Rio de Janeiro.
After him may be mentioned Manoel Joachim Henriqnez de Paiva, (nephew of Dr Sanches, who was in correspondence with Linnaeus,) who has the greatest merit as connected with the Flora of Brazil. He described plants of Brazil in his Memorias de ffintoria Natural, for example several officinal Dorstenias.
Frey Leandro do Sacramento, of the order of Carmelites, a learned and industrious man, who received his early education at his native city Olinda, (Pernambuco,) and then at Coimbra, from the instructions of Bertero. He was afterwards called to be Professor in the recently organized medical school at Rio, by the minister Araujo Conde de Barca. As well as the weak state of his health would allow him, he employed himself in collecting and describing the plants there. His attention was particularly attracted by the numerous Euphorbiaceae about Rio, and he had in view to publish a Monograph of them, but which his increasing illness prevented. He sent some small collections of dried plants to the Museum d' Histoire Naturelle at Paris, and to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich. A Treatise, written in Latin, on some of the plants observed by him, which was also sent to the Bavarian Academy, is, with some observations of M. von Schrank, printed in their Transactions, (for the years 1818—20.) The Genera quoted as new, are Langsdorffia

p.15
= Xanthoxylum ; Spixia — Pera or Peridium; Martia; Augusta = Stiftia; Raddisia = Salacia? [With few exceptions, what more is published on the plants of Brazil, has reference rather to the uses and advantages to be derived from them by mankind, than to descriptive or systematic Botany. We shall therefore pass that over in silence, and quote from Martius what foreigners have done to promote a more correct knowledge of Brazilian vegetation.]

As the southern parts of the Brazils, but particularly that of Rio de Janeiro, afford excellent harbours and many advantages to those who circumnavigate the globe, they have been frequently visited since the time of Magelhaen, and on these occasions their plants have been collected by the Naturalists of the several expeditions. Cook, on his first voyage round the world, in 1768, touched at the noble port of Rio, where Banks and Solander botanized. Many interesting plants that were discovered by these celebrated men were only published after a lapse of seventy years : for example, Oxypetalum Banksii, and Alsodeia physophora. In the year 1766, Bougainville touched there, and his companion Commerson commemorated the name of the commander of the expedition in the beautiful Bougainvillea spectabilis, which he gathered in the hedges of the suburbs. Macartney visited Rio on his voyage to China, in 1792, where his young companion, Sir George Staunton, detected many valuable species of plants.

The Russian navigator, Krusenstern, in 1803, and Kotzebue, in 1815, the first accompanied by Langsdorff and Tilesius, the latter by Chamisso, landed on the fertile island of St Catharine; and to M. Langsdorff we are indebted for the first charming description of the magnificence of Brazilian vegetation. These have greatly contributed to direct the attention of European naturalists to the tropical regions which were before almost unknown. The Brazilian plants which were found in these two Russian expeditions are particularly described in the following works :—" Plantes recueillies pendant le voyage des Russes autour du Monde, Prem. partie; Icones Filicum (auct, Fischer et Langsdorff'; Stuttg. 1810.


p.16
" Enumeratio Filicum, quas in itinere circa terram legit Adalb. de Chamisso, auct. T. F. Kaulfuss, Lips, 1824, and particularly in a valuable series of treatises by Messrs Chamisso and Schlechtendal in the Linnaea, under the title, " De Plantis in expeditione speculatoria Romanzoffiana collectis."

Freycinet in his " Voyages autour du Monde, 1817-1820," gives, in the botanical portion of Gaudichaud, Paris, 1825, many plants collected at Rio de Janeiro. The second French expedition of Duperrey (1822-1824,) by the botanical labours of D'Urville, Brongniart and Bory de St Vincent (Paris, 1828, &c.) has enriched the Flora of Brazil with plants that have been gathered at St Catharine. Other French Naturalists, as Gay and Leschenault, landed also at Rio de Janeiro, and sent their collections to the Herbarium of the Museum in the Jardin des Plantes. M. Gaudichaud also enriched this Museum with some thousand specimens of plants which had been procured by various Brazilian collectors, and placed in the public Cabinet at Rio de Janeiro. O. Von Kotzebue also visited Rio again during his voyage round the World, in the years 1823-1826. Professor William Jamieson (now of the University of Quito,) collected Mosses, which have been described by Dr Arnott.

It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that it is not by hasty visits of Naturalists that the general Flora of the country could be made known to us, but by those Europeans, who have penetrated into the interior, and who had so long been excluded from it. The first who thus collected plants in Bra- eil, was a German, Mr Sieber. Para, at that time, under the presidency of the enlightened Conde dos Arcos, enjoyed a happy peace. Count von Hoffmanseg, so well known by his travels in Portugal, and his illustrated Flora of that country, sent his servant Sieber to Brazil, in order to collect insects, and he brought to his patron a considerable collection of dried plants, some gathered in the environs of Para, others in Cameta, along the banks of the Tocantins. Many of these were given by Count Hoffmanseg to Willdenow for his Species Plantarum. But the collection was described by

p.17
him, and the manuscript under the title of Flora Paraensis, and both one and the other given to Dr Von Martins for insertion in the general Flora of Brazil.

After the removal of the Court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, the Brazils were emancipated. Its ports were opened to travellers of every country, and several European Courts sent diplomatic representatives to the capital of this now independent country. M. Von Langsdorff took up his residence in Rio de Janeiro as an Imperial Consul-general, and, attracted by the beauty of the vegetation, he directed his energies to the collecting of the copious productions of the district of Rio, particularly those of the Organ Mountains, where he possessed the beautiful Fazenda Mandiocca, and also a tract of the coast at Cabo Frio. He placed his collections with great liberality in the public Museums of Paris, Munich, and St Petersburg, and in several private herbaria. During the first years he had, as an assistant, Mr G. W. Freyreiss of Frankfort, who afterwards entered into the service of his Highness Prince Max. v. Neuwied, whom he accompanied, in 1816, and 1817, on his travels from Rio along the coast to Bahia. At the expense of the Swedish Consul, M. Westin, Freyreiss also made collections for the herbaria of Upsal and Stockholm, and in two dissertations, written under the Presidency of Thunberg by Billberg and Ahlberg, (Upsal 18.17 and 1818) are described twenty species of Freyreiss' collections. After he had undertaken a journey to Minas Geraes, he went with his countryman, Mr Sauerlander, to Ilheos, from whence both of them sent collections of Natural History to the Senkenberg Institute of their native city.
Mr Fr. Sellow of Potsdam, was the first European Naturalist who came to the Brazils purely with the view to obtain its vegetable treasures. Aided by Sir Joseph Banks and Mr Aylmer Bourke Lambert, he came to Rio de Janeiro, and at first employed himself with the Flora of the environs of that city, and then engaged himself at the same time with Mr Freyreiss to the Prince de Neuwied. Through the influence of the minister, Araujo, he was afterwards appointed Brazi-

p.18
lian Naturalist, with a moderate salary. He accompanied M. Von Olfers, in 1819, on a journey through the provinces of Minas Geraes and S. Paulo, and afterwards in the southern provinces of St Catharine, S. Pedro do sul, or Rio Grande, and Monte Video, which he traversed in all directions, and of which country he investigated not only the Botany, but the Geology. The extensive and well prepared collections that he sent to the Royal Museum at Berlin, prove his great diligence as well as talents; and it is painful to relate, that after all his laudable exertions, he was not able to return to his native country, but perished in Rio Doce, some say while bathing, others by assassination.
No botanist, who has trodden the soil of Brazil, has ever so thoroughly examined the country, and in such various directions as Sellow, and it were most desirable for the interests of science, that the papers which are in the hands of his friend and fellow-traveller, M. Von Olfers, should be communicated to the scientific world. Many of his discoveries have been published by Professor Link, in the Hortus Berolinensis, (1821, 1827, 1833,) and by Chamisso and Schlechtendal in the Linnaea. Sprengel also has described many of them in his Neuen Endechungen, 1820, and in his edition of the Systema Vegetabilium; and Mr Lessing, numerous Compositae in the Linneea, and in the Synopsis Generum Compositarum, as M. De Candolle has also in the fifth (and following) volumes of the Prodromus Syst. Veget.; but a still greater number remain. Indeed the herbarium left by this indefatigable but unfortunate botanist and traveller, amounts to 10,000 species! and by his will, the first specimen of every species is to be deposited in the Royal Berlin Herbarium ; the second in that of M. Von Olfers, and the third, in M. Kunth's.

Another Naturalist, whose exertions for the Flora of Brazil have secured him an immortal name, is M. Aug. de St Hilaire. He left France for Rio in 1816, in the suite of the Ambassador, the duke of Luxemburg, and returned in 1823. The collection is estimated at 7000 species. His first journey was partly in company with M. Von Langsdorff, to the mining

p.19
districts, over which he travelled for a period of sixteen months. A second, was from Rio to the province of Espiritu Santo, and the Rio Doce. A third, of greater extent, was over S. Joam del Rey, and the Serra Negra to Paracatu, in the western district of the province of Minas; then to the Villa Boa, the capital of Goyaz, and to the Rio Claro. From thence the traveller returned through the open Campos of St Paulo, and into the south to Curitiba and Porto Alegro. A year was almost wholly devoted in going hence and travelling over the Missions of Paraguay and the Banda Orientale, whence he took ship with his collections for Rio. Great and various are the results of these journeys, and there is nothing to be wished but that St Hilaire's health may allow of his completing the publication of his labours. The following are the memoirs in which M. de St Hilaire has inserted his numerous descriptions of plants and his important geographical remarks, and those on medical, ceconomical, and technical botany: " Flora Brasilia Meridionalis," 2 vols. and 3 Fasciculi, Paris, 1825- 1832. From the twentieth Fasciculus M. de St Hilaire has enjoyed the able assistance of M. Adrien de Jussieu, and
Cambessedes 2. " Histoire des Plantes les plus remarquables
du Bresil et du Paraguay," vol. 1. Paris, 1824.—3. " Plantes Usuelles des Bresiliens" Paris, 1824.—4. " Voyage dans les Provinces de Rio de Janeiro et de Minas Geraes," vol. 1, 2. Paris, 1830-8.—5. " Voyage dans le district des diamans el sur le littoral du Brcsil," vol. 1, 2. Paris, 1833-8—6. " Tableau de la Vegetation primitive dans la Province de Minas Geraes," in the Annales des Sciences Natur. vol. 24. p. 64. &c—7. A brief account of their journey is also given in the " Bulletins de la Societe Philomatique," 1823-1826.— The plants of M. de St Hilaire will be found as far as they have been described in the general herbarium of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris.

Nearly at the same time with M. de St Hilaire, his Highness prince Maximilian Von Neuweid visited Rio, and afterwards published his travels; in the appendix to which several of the more interesting plants were mentioned by Professor

p.20
Schrader and Nees Von Esenbeck redundant. Others, from the pen of Schrader, have appeared in the " Gottingen Gelehrten Anzeig"1824-1828: while again, in conjunction with Dr Von Martius, Nees Von Esenbeck published several treatises on these plants in the " Nov. Act. Acad. Cces. Nat. Cur.;" for example—1. " Beitrag zur Flora Brazil," Nov. Act., vol. 2. and 12—2. " Gothea, novum Genus," vol. 2.— 3. Fraxinella:, Plantarum familia naturalis definita, fyc." vol. 11.—4. " Zollernia, nov. Gen." vol. l3.—"Hornschuchia," by Nees Von Esenbeck, appeared in the memoirs of the Ratisbon Society, 1822. The remainder of his collections were presented to Von Martius, who will incorporate them with his Flora.

In 1815 and 1816, "two English collectors, Messrs Cunningham and Bowie, were sent by the Royal Gardens of Kew, where many of the plants discovered by them are still living, and where is, moreover, preserved, a considerable herbarium which they formed in Brazil. Both these travellers left the Brazils from St Paulo; the one, Mr Bowie, for the interior of the Cape of Good Hope, where he sank from the fatigues of his journey;* the other, Mr Allan Cunningham, for New Holland, where he spent many years in investigating the interior; and after visiting New Zealand and Norfolk Island, returned to England. Again he went the second time to Port Jackson, as Colonial Botanist, to supply the place of his brother (Richard), who had been killed by the natives. (We have now to lament the death of Allan, from the effect of fatigue and illness, during a second visit to New Zealand.)
The marriage of the Crown Prince Don Pedro, afterwards Emperor of the Brazils, with her Imperial Highness the Archduchess Leopoldine of Austria, gave rise to the expedition of the Austrian Naturalists, which Dr Von Martius, and Dr Von Spix accompanied, and which left Europe in the

p.21
spring of 1817. For the botanical department were appointed Professor Milcan of Prague, Dr Pohl, (who died in 1834,) Mr Henry Schott, now inspector of the imperial Botanic Garden of Schonbrun, and Mr Ruchberger, Botanic Painter, who lost his life in Brazil by being thrown from his horse. Milcan, during his short residence of one year, paid particular attention to the Flora of the environs of Rio, and afterwards journeyed along the coast to Cabo Frio. In his magnificent Delectus Flora et Faunae Brasiliensis he has given to the public some of his discoveries. Mr Schott, who is no less an able botanist and draughtsman than he is a cultivator, was however directed chiefly to confine himself to the neighbourhood of Rio, and send living plants to the Imperial Garden at Vienna. Nevertheless he made several excursions from Rio to the Campos on the Paraiba and Paraibuna Rivers, through the district of Canta Gallo and to Macucu. He was afterwards assisted in his labours by the gardener, Schucht. A very choice herbarium of many thousand rare and interesting plants was the fruit of these labours. Dr Pohl undertook a much more extended journey. After having visited the country southerly from Rio to S. Marcos, and northerly as far as the Paraiba River, he went by Barbacena to the Minas country, to Villa Rica, Villa do Principe (passed the Diamond district which was then closed against him,) to the Rio Grande de Belmonte. He then turned westerly to Goyaz, and descended the Rio Maranhano, the principal eastern branch of the Tocantins, to the eighth degree of S. latitude. From Porto Real his route led him back to Villa Boa, and from thence he arrived again at Rio de Janeiro about the end of 1821.

* Our author has in this particular been misinformed. Bowie was lately, and we believe is still, in charge of Baron Ludwig's interesting Botanic Garden, near Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope.— Ed.

The results of the labours of the Austrian travellers in Brazil, and their Narrative have been published, partly in a separate work, and partly in Pohl's Travels in the Brazils, Vienna, 1831. How much this indefatigable traveller has done for the Flora of Brazil, may be inferred from the great work, " Plantarum Brasiliae e Icones et Descriptiones hactenus ineditae. Vindob. 2 vols.fol. 1827, 1831." Many of the Ferns

p.22
are published by Presl. The collections that Pohl has deposited in the Imperial Cabinets will soon be made known by the literary labours of Dr Endlicher.

M. Raddi, a Florentine, whose life terminated at the pyramids of Egypt, also accompanied the Austrian expedition of Naturalists to Rio de Janeiro, and botanized there for about a year. From him we have the " Filices Brasilienses," folio; " Agrostographia Brasil." 8vo.; and some plants which appeared in the 18th volume of the " Atti della Societa Italiana," &c.

The two Bavarian Naturalists, Spix and Martius, were, on their arrival at Rio, by command of His Majesty the late King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, to undertake a journey into the interior of Brazil, from the tropic of Cancer to the line. They set out in the end of December, and went south to the town of St Paulo, the Iron works of Ypanema, and to Porto Felix, the place of embarkation by the interior to Mato Grosso. Thence they turned to the north, over Villa de S. Joam d' El Rey, to the capital of the gold country, Villa Rica, (now Cidade de Ouro preto.) A journey, branching off to the eastward, through the woods on the borders of the Cordilleras, enabled them to study the characters of the four living races of the Indians. Returning back to Villa Rica, they pursued their route to the diamond district, a country remarkable for the very peculiar nature of its vegetable productions, and which had previously only been visited by M. de St Hilaire. They went from Tejucco up the high plateau of Minas Novas, and again reached the line of the mountain forests and penetrated the Sertas, a hilly territory, where the character of the vegetation is entirely changed, to the Rio de S. Francisco, on the other side of which they penetrated by the Chapada (elevated plains) from Paranan to the eastern springs of the Tocantins in the province of Goyaz. The return to the coast was through the interior of the provinces of Pernambuco and Bahia, to the capital of the last province, where they arrived in a year from the time of their departure from Rio. Thence they went by water to Ilheos, examining

p.23
the forests of the coasts there, and returned on foot, along the shore, back to Bahia. A second important journey led them in a north-westerly direction, through the province of Bahia by Joazeiro, across the beautiful river of S. Francisco, resembling the Rhine, to the hilly pastures of the province of Piauhy, which they completely crossed in order to reach S. Luiz, the capital of the province of Maranham. Then they took ship to Para, and from that town ascended the Amazon River and the Salimoens to Ega, where they separated for a time, Dr Von Spix following the course of the Salimoens to the boundary of Brazil, while Dr Von Martius, accompanied by Colonel Zany, went up the Yupura as far as the falls of Arara-Coara on the borders of Popayan. Meeting again at the Barra do Rio Negro, they descended the Amazons and visited the lower territory of the Madeira river.

From Para these indefatigable Naturalists returned to Munich by way of Lisbon, at the end of the year 1821; and the number of species calculated to be brought home by Von Martius, is 7,500. Already the public has been favoured with—1. " Nova Genera et Spec. Plant. Bras." 3 vols., the first of which is edited in part by Zuccarini, 1823—1829, with 300 plates.—2. " Genera et Species Palmarum," very large atlas folio (scarcely yet completed.)—3. " Icones Selectee Plantarum Cryptogam." 1 vol.—4. Specimen Materiae MediaesBrasil. Part I. Emetica."—5. " Travels in the Brazils," 3 vols. 4to., 1823—1831—6. " The Physiognomy of the Vegetable Kingdom in the Brazils."—7. " Soemmeringia, Novum Plant. Gen" (Legumin.).—8. "Fridericia, Novum Plant. Gen" in Nov. Art. Acad. Vol. xiii.—9. " On the Preparation of the Urari Poison employed by the Juris Indians on the Rio Yupura,"—" On some Brazilian Medicines,"—On some Medicinal Plants," noticed by Dr Von Martius, in the Brazilian province of Rio Negro, given in Buchner's Repertorium of Pharmacy.—10. " Decas Plantarum Mycetoidearum Brasili- ensium, in Nov. Act. Acad." vol. x.—11. " Lychnophora, Novum Plant. Gen." (Composit.), in the Memoirs of the Royal

p.24
Bavarian Bot. Soc. at Ratisbori, 1822.—12. "On several Species of Plants raised from Brazilian Seeds," in different works, such as Schrank, Hort. Monac.; Martius, Amaen. Bot. Monac.; Hortus Reg. Monac.; in Collas' Hortus Ripul.; in Link, et Otto Ic. Plant. Sel., &c. 13. "Flora Brasiliensis Enumeratio Plant, in Brasilia" &c., 8vo., only 2 vols. of this have yet been published; one on the Algae, by Martius; the Lichens,by Eschweiler; and the Hepatica, by Nees Von Esen- beck ; the second containing the Grasses, by Nees. Professor Hornschuch has been engaged upon the Mosses;* Professor Kunze on the Ferns; Dr Spring has prepared the Lycopodinae. The Cyperaceae have been commenced by Schrader. Professor Roeper will undertake the Euphorbiaceae; Nees the Solanaceae and Acanthaceae. Many Monocotyledones are already finished for (and since published in) the 6th vol. of Homer et Schultes' Syst Veget.; and various other of Dr Von Martius' materials have been taken up, through his liberality, by many other Botanists; for example by Zuccarini in the Roy. Bavar. Trans., and in his Fasc. i. Plant. Nov. &c. M. De Candolle has in his Prodromus inserted the Myrtacea:, Melastomaceee, and a part of Lythrarieae and Compositae Mr Bentham has included the Labiatae in his valuable Monograph of that family. Nees Von Esenbeck undertakes Laurineae; Professor Lindley the Orchideae; and again Bentham the Leguminosae.

After M. de St Hilaire, Mr Pohl and Dr Von Martins, had left Brazil in 1823, Mr Beyrich, an industrious and able gardener, went to Rio, at the expense of the Berlin Garden, which, as well as the Herbarium, he enriched with numerous interesting objects. After his melancholy death from cholera, in N. America, his extensive private collection came into the possession of Baron Von Rbmer in Dresden, and many of his discoveries have been made known by Chamisso and Schlechtendal in the Linnaea, where his memory
* I believe a Fasciculus of this has since appeared in small folio, with plates, together with the Lycopodinecs.

p.25
has further been perpetuated by the establishing of the Genus Beyrichia, among Schrophularinece.

At the same period as Mr Beyrich, Baron Von Karwinski visited Rio de Janeiro, and formed a collection in the Organ Mountains, which has since passed into the hands of Von Martins. Mr Von Langsdorff at this time, by command of the Imperial Russian government, now prepared for a very extensive journey, which was to extend to the most distant territory of the Brazils; but respecting the results of it, little seems to be known, and Langsdorff himself came to Europe, in a very indifferent state of health. Accompanied by Mr Riedel, an able Botanist, by Mr Tanney a botanical draughtsman, M. Menetrier, as Zoologist, and Mr Rubzow, as astronomer, he first went to Cuyaba, then to Mato Grosso, and lastly down the Madeira and Amazon Rivers to Para. Although the life of the artist was sacrificed, and that the party suffered various misfortunes, the expedition yielded an abundant harvest of plants, which together with many former collections sent to the Imperial Garden and the Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh, have made the northern imperial city one of the richest in Brazilian Natural History. Thanks also to the great industry of her Botanists, we possess, besides many others from the same quarter, the following valuable additions to our knowledge of Brazilian vegetation : —" Bongard, Essai monographique sur les especes d'Eriocaulon du Bresil," in the " Mem. de l'Acad. de St Petersb. 1831,"— and the same author's " Generis Lacis Revisio, adnexa Philocrene, gen. e Podostemearum ordine novo." Mr R. Bongard has also described several species of the Genera Bauhinia and Pauletia. Trinius, in his great work on Grasses, has made use of all the remarkable additions of this difficult family which the Brazils yield so abundantly. Dr Von Fischer, too, has published many of LangsdorfPs discoveries, sometimes in conjunction with Mr C. A. Meyer.
Respecting another journey which took place in the southwestern parts of Brazil, at the same period as the above,

p. 26
namely, that of Mr Burchell, we have no accurate accounts. He had already distinguished himself by his scientific travels in the interior of Southern Africa; and he is said to have taken home noble collections from the provinces of Minas, Goyaz,and Mato Grosso; but at present we hear nothing of the probability of their being published. Other Collectors have been engaged in procuring Seeds, Bulbs, and especially Orchideee. The later volumes of the Botanical Magazine, and Botanical Register, record the names of Harrison, Pearson, Hasketh, &c., as having introduced to Europe plants new to the Flora of Brazil. A highly accomplished English lady, Mrs Maria Graham, now Mrs (Lady) Calcott, has sent collections of dried plants and drawings, which she made in Brazil, to the English Naturalists. Mr Tweedie has collected extensively on the banks of the Uraguay and in the Banda Orientale, plants which have been described by Messrs. Hooker and Arnott in their valuable " Contributions towards the Flora of South America," in Hook. Bot. Miscel. vol. iii. &c., or by Dr Graham in the Edinburgh Journal of Science. Many other Botanists might be named, who have contributed to increase the catalogue of the Flora of Brazil; as for example, Mr Lund, Dr Dollinger, Luschnath, and others, at Rio; Bacle at St Catharine; Blanchet, and Salzmann, and Lhotzky, and Vauthier, &c.; all have contributed to the " Prodromus" of De Candolle, the '' Atakta" of Endlicher, Presl's " Symbol. Sot.," and other works. Mr Lhotzky has also sent many plants which were gathered by that industrious Brazilian physician, A. L. Patricio da Silva Monse, during a residence of several years at Cujaba. In conclusion may be mentioned the services rendered to Brazilian Botany by Professor Poep- pig. In his very extensive and successful journey, he also entered Brazil on his way from Maynas down the Rio Soli- nioens and the Amazon River to Para. At Ega, and in the neighbourhood of the last mentioned city, this excellent Naturalist remained for some time; and his collections include those which Von Martius made ten years before in the same


p. 27
districts. He has also, with the courtesy which distinguishes the man of learning and science, placed his Brazilian collections at the service of the author of the Flora of Brazil.

II. Character of the principal regions of the Flora of Brazil.

The vegetable kingdom in the Brazils presents in general, if it may be so expressed, a fixed character, especially if the tropical regions be more particularly considered. In regard to individual plants, this exhibits itself in the great exuberance of the ramifications of the leaves, in the profusion of flowers and fruits, and in the absence of those forms of the organs which arise from a stunted growth, or a want of development, such as thorns and spines, &c., exhibit. Thus, one sees gigantic, copiously branched, herbaceous plants, loaded with dark-green foliage, and flower-stems adorned with blossoms, glowing with every colour; though the reds, violets and yellows, are more abundant than blues and whites. The bark of the trees is thin in proportion to the size of the trunks, and it does not peel off as in N. Holland, for example, where the ground resembles a tan-yard, from the quantity of bark with which it is strewed. The greater number of plants are smooth and naked on their surface; only in the extratropical parts, generally speaking, and in some elevated or saline situations, do we find the clothing of hair and to- mentum to prevail on the leaves, or other soft herbaceous parts.

With the exception of some genera, such as Chorisia, Pachira, Eriodendron, Bombax, Wittelsbachia, Lasiandra, and many Orchidece, the flowers are not so large and magni-' ficent as in the Flora of Southern India, though larger than is common in other tropical regions. The extraordinary variability in individual plants, according to habitat, climate, and age, is a characteristic of this tropical vegetation, and this makes the study of the various forms not a little difficult. The size and shape of the leaves, especially at the base and apex, the degree of hairiness, the texture and thickness, the inflorescence, the outline, (and in a less degree the colour,)

p. 28
vary ad infinitum in the vegetable productions of Brazil, according as the species grows fully exposed to the light of the sun, or in the shade; on lofty hills, or on low ground; on elevated plains, or on river-banks; in stony places, on decayed dung, or on moving sands. Frequently one and the same tree, if growing half in the light and half in shade, will exhibit different degrees of hairiness in the different parts, as is observed with the Mango, (Mangifera Indica); and the fruit is different in the quantity of saccharine, in aroma, in absence or presence of resins, &c., as they may chance to be produced by one or another branch. Another circumstance that distinguishes the Flora of the Brazils (and indeed that of the tropics generally), is the extraordinary disparity in the size of the individual parts of the leaves and flowers; for example, according to its age, to the season of the year, and its locality. Many produce flowers when very young, and then the foliage and blossoms are of small size: others require a great degree of maturity in the wood in order to bear fruit, and are at first sparingly clothed with blossoms; sometimes in every part. The leaves of the fruit-bearing ones are often 3 or 4 times as large as those of the same plant in a state of flower, and the substance and texture are equally altered. The leaves of those trees, which in the spring, that is, after the rainy season, usually expand rapidly, are at first thin and delicate, but by degrees they become so thick and coriaceous that specimens from the same tree, gathered at different periods, will frequently appear to a botanist accustomed to the European forms, as belonging to a different species. It is the same with the leaves and flowers, when an individual of the same species grows in the moist primitive forests along the sea-shore, and in the dry forests in the interior of the country seldom refreshed with rain. In the latter case the ramification, the thorns, the reticulation of the leaves are much more copious than upon the coast. Whilst the Flora is the poor tropical vegetation, there may in general be a great diversity in the forms of the species; so, on the other hand, in the luxuriant tropical vegetation, there is a great close

p. 29
ness and affinity of species in one and the same genus. These close boundaries of the specific forms, and the variableness of the individuals, are substantial difficulties in the study of a Flora so rich in species as that of Brazil. Then Melastomaceae and Myrtaceae of the Brazils, that are in De Candolle's Prodromus, may serve as an evidence of the correctness of this assertion. It is, therefore, not surprising, if many species are already introduced into systematic works, whose right to that rank will be doubtful, until they are more studied in their original localities. With a view to these two circumstances, must be taken into consideration that which will necessarily escape the traveller who passes hastily through the country : I mean the formation of hybrids, and the difference of the individual in the development of the flowers in the two sexes. There can be no doubt that the numerous insects in Brazil industriously visit the expanded blossoms, and produce similar effects to what are known to occur by a similar cause in Europe. So, too, will greater accuracy, and much time, be required to prove that certain variations in the growth, the inflorescence, even also in the leafing, are or are not occasioned by the differences of sex in the numerous polygamous and dioecious plants that occur in the Flora of the Brazils, and which have not been accurately distinguished. Similar differences with those in the German species of Tussilago, or in Serratula arvensis (ascertained by Mr Brown to be dioecious) will be discovered in Brazil in many species of Eupatorium, Mikania, Baccharis, &c.

After these few introductory observations on the character of the Brazilian vegetation in general, Von Martius proceeds to offer some remarks on the peculiarities presented by the different regions of the vegetation in Brazil. There, as in every Flora of great extent, are spread over the wide surface of the country, various masses or groups of vegetables in such a manner, that each in its intensity, that is, where it appears complete and unmingled, bears its own peculiar character. This character is recognised no less physiognomically, in the stamp of its whole picturesque appearance,

p. 30
than systematically in the number of the prevalent plants and families of plants. But as each of these peculiar masses of plants have their limits, and pass into another, so is their character blended and changed. Von Martius distinguishes five principal regions which were first recorded by him in the " Agrostographia Brasiliensis."—1. Regio extra-tropica, or valleculosa, most of which is hilly country beyond the southern tropics. 2. Regio montana, or montano-campestris, the high land covered with fields. 3. Regio montano-nemorosa, or wooded mountain-land. 4. Regio calido-sicca, the dry northern district. 5. Regio calido-humida, the moist equatorial district.

I. Regio Extra-tropica—South Brazil beyond the tropic of Capricorn to Monte Video, and to the river La Plata. The plants of this district Martius designates by the general name of Napcece. The country is either plain or gently undulated, rarely rising into mountains (scarcely ever exceeding 1600 feet high). It is, however, tolerably well watered, although many of the lesser streams dry up annually, entirely or in part. The mountain-formation is partly granite, gneiss, and sienite; partly, especially in the more southern districts, the trap-formation prevails. The forests are only numerous in the more southern districts; and here you see a vast extent of the Brazilian Pines, Araucaria Brasiliana. The farther you proceed to the south, the forests become more rare; and, mingled with the American, we find the European forms of vegetation. On the other side the Plate river this region passes into the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, which extends from thence to Cordova, and to the eastern sides of the Andes of Chili. The tropical forms of the Brazilian vegetation descend here and there in this district along the rivers that flow from the north, but lose themselves the more as you go into the interior from the coast. This region has been particularly investigated by Messrs Auguste de St Hilaire and Sellow.
II. Regio Montana, or Montano-campestris.—Under this head are included that of the great Brazilian mountain

p. 31
system, which constitutes the interior of the province of Minas to the west, and extends through the Serra dos Ver- tentes (as M. Eschwege calls it), to the upper valley of the river of Madeira, the Rib Itinez, or Guapoce, and towards the north in the province of Bahia, terminates with several narrow branches in the Comarca of Jacobina. This long district, situated between the 46th and 65th of west longitude from Paris, and between the 23d and the llth degree of south latitude, also includes a part of the provinces of Rio, S. Paulo, Minas Geraes, Goyaz, Mato Grosso, and Bahia. Low valleys, steep declivities of mountains, gentle declinations, and elevated plains, here alternate with each other, and the highest mountains attain to above 5000 feet. The prevailing mountains here are quartz slate (Itacolumit, quartz- reicher Glimmer-oder Falkschiefer); or they frequently contain " Flotze" of ironstone. Gold occurs almost everywhere, and diamonds are found.

The greater part of this district is covered by grass-plains, on which are seen, scattered, a great variety of beautiful flowering herbaceous plants and low shrubs or copses. Here are also woods possessing two different characters; the lofty evergreen woods, which are pretty similar to those along the coast, and isolated lower, very dense, and not altogether deciduous ones. The first, especially, affect the banks of the rivers, and ascend from the lowest districts of the country, at most, half way up the mountains. They are destroyed in the mountain districts in the same way as in the United States, and burnt; and, this being the most fertile part of the country, is under cultivation. In the language of the country this is called Mato virgen, virgin forests (tupi: Caa-ete). The other kind of woods besides, being of much lower growth, is particularly characterized by the low wet grounds in such a manner as to resemble islands, mostly of a roundish form. Many of them have swampy bottoms, others contain springs, the sources of brooks and rivers. They are called in the language of the country Capoens, island-woods. They never ascend to the ridge of the higher mountains, which is only

p. 32
covered, in the whole Regio-montana, with bushes or herbaceous plants, whilst in the northern part of the Regio-extra- tropica, it is wooded even to the very summit. Two other vegetable features occur ^nterme'diate between the forms already alluded to, particularly in the north-western and northern parts of this district: the one is characterized by numerous, low stunted, and much ramified trees, whose branches frequently spread out horizontally. They are seen most abundantly on gentle declivities, table-mountains, and elevated plains, and on this account, and because they often afford no shelter to the traveller, they are called Taboleiro coberto (covered table-land). The trees of this formation nre mostly very peculiar, and different from those of other woods. The second form, and which likewise most frequently occurs in the north-western and northern parts of this territory, and which constitutes the transition into another, is a peculiar kind of thick bushes (Carrasco, or when larger trees intervene, Mato carrasquento). These last kinds of vegetation in the mountain district mostly lose their foliage during the dry months, often flower before they throw out fresh leaves, which are at first soft and tender, but quickly hardening and becoming as it were sapless. The plants of this mountain-region Martius distinguishes by the name of Oreades.

III. Regio Montano-nemorosa : the district of mountain- forests. To this especially belongs the Cordillera of the coast (Serro do Mar), which extends from the province of S. Paulo to Bahia, and northerly from it to the other side of the Francisco river, in the provinces of Alagoas and Pernam- buco. This particularly consists of granite, gneiss, and sienite. On account of the vicinity of the sea, and the dense forests moistened by the numerous clouds, it is abundant in springs. It is of inferior elevation to that of the Minas district, some few of the rounded summits only attaining an elevation of about 4000 feet. It maintains a peculiarly luxuriant, rich and brilliant Flora, which, although it has been the most investigated, will yet for a long time yield


p. 33
novelties to the botanist. The plants belonging to this district Martius calls Dryades. Towards the north the Flora of this mountain-range changes considerably ; so that many of the species that grow in the south disappear, and other related kinds supply their place. The three provinces that have been most searched, viz., Bahia, Ilheos, and Rio de Janeiro, have each of them certain peculiarities, yet in their physiognomy corresponding forms. It appears too that the Flora of Rio is distinguished above all others by greater magnificence in form and colour. The mountain of this region is in connexion with the extensive principal crest of the former region by several spurs, which diverge from near the 47° of west longitude to the north, and are called Serra da Mantiqueira, das Almas, da Lapa, &c., and is comprehended by Eschwege, under the common name of Serra do Espinha90. On these spurs, or cross-branches, generally appears a different vegetation from that of the mountain-district itself, and that of the forests on the west, which mostly exhibits that of the Catingas woods.

IV. Regio Calido-sicca. North from the principal mass of mountains of the Minas district, and easterly from the line of mountains of the Serra do Mar, extends a large level land, frequently rising into low hills, which, from the dryness and uniformity of the climate and the absence of water, is occupied by a very different vegetation from that hitherto noticed. The mountain-formation is here mostly granite and gneiss, sandstone or chalk, and, though more rarely, " Diorit" and mica- slate. The elastic sandstone, (Eschwege's Itacolumit already mentioned,) which appears characteristic of the mining district, is seldom seen here, nor is there found that abundance of gold and of diamonds. On this account it is less inhabited by colonists, and has received the name of Sertam (wilderness) ; a word also employed to denote the thinly populous districts in the very interior of Brazil. At Minas Geraes they designate by Sertam the tract of country situated westerly and north-westerly from the peculiar mountain heights so abundant in gold. The country here gradually sinks down

p. 34
to the Rio de San Francisco, and rises again on the other side in the Table-land of Goyaz. Further towards the north is a country of a similar nature, which includes the interior of the province of Bahia, the south-western part of the province of Pernambuco, and the valley of the province of Piauhy. The heat is much greater than in the same latitude upon the coast, or than in the more elevated Minas district; for the present region, with the exception of the small range of Car- riri mountains and their ramifications, scarcely exceeds 1000 or 1200 feet above the level of the sea. The rains that commence in October in the more southern parts, further to the north prevail from December to January, and sometimes fail almost entirely for several years. The winds that blow in the districts beyond the Tropics, frequently with great violence, particularly from the south-west, are here of rare occurrence; and often the clear, pure and dry air, continues for months without any variation. This characteristic of the climate, together with the almost total absence of vegetable mould ("dammerde"), occasion a great variation of the Flora of this country from that already treated of. The forests are of less extent, and are either in the neighbourhood of rivers, or on the mountains, which are covered by them even to the summits, if they are sufficiently elevated to experience a current of moist air which comes from the coast: thus producing a coast-climate. The low grounds, in which the dew most frequently supplies the place of rains, are especially covered with shrubs and bushes. As the plains frequently expand very suddenly, and are overrun for an immense extent with shrubs of a man's height, so we here find ourselves as it were in an ocean of plants. This vegetable feature is called in the country Carrasco, and is, of all that exist in the tropics of the Brazils, the poorest in species, although it may be abundant in individuals. It clothes a great part of the country on the other side of the Rio de San Francisco, the whole interior of Goyaz, Pernambuco, and the northern provinces of Rio Grande and Ciara. The forests that exist here have seldom that fulness and the lofty growth of those of the coast, and,

p. 35
during the dry months, the leaves are deciduous, on which account they are called in the language of the Brazils, light forests (Caa-tinga.) What is extraordinary, if no rain falls, they can remain for many years without producing foliage, but when at last the showers descend, in the course of forty-eight hours they are clothed with the most delicate and tender green. Many plants of this Flora have the flowers produced before the leaves, or during the time of the bursting of the foliage, and many do not ripen their fruit till after they have again dropped their foliage. It is in this district that so many Cacteae are seen: while the general vegetation is distinguished by the tenderness of fibre, rigidity of the leaves, the presence of hairs, stings or prickles, smaller flowers, thicker and frequently milky juice. The pastures differ from those of the mining district, in that they exhibit a bright green, more delicate and smoother herbs, and Gramineae with more pliant leaves. The Brazilians call them Campos mimosas, in contradistinction to the Campos agrestes of the Minas Geraes. Hitherto the individuals of this form of vegetation have been less known than the others. Dr Pohl has however placed numerous species from this district in the Imperial Herbarium at Vienna, (and we may add, that Mr Gardner has recently formed a very rich herbarium there. —Ed.) Martius designates the plants of this district as Hamadryades.

V. Regio Calido-humida.—Northerly from the province of Ciará the country declines down towards the great plain of the Amazonian River. The mountains, which are exceedingly curious in structure, and are deeply covered with vegetable soil (Dammerde), consist principally of sandstone. A vast abundance of springs, numerous streams, rivers and lakes, very frequent rains continuing to fall through the greater portion of the year, and moisture during the latter part of it, brought by the winds from the Atlantic Ocean, all here unite in producing the greatest vigour and luxuriance of the vegetable growth. Dry situations are scarcely to be met with, except on the sides of some of the low hills

p. 36
in the interior of this almost wholly unexplored tract, between the Ocean and Madeira River. As the vegetation here so much depends on the abundance of water, Von Martius calls the plants Naiades. By far the greater part of the country is covered by very lofty forest vegetation (Caa-eté,) which in the neighbourhood of the waters (where it is called Caa- Ygabó) is particularly intricate and wild, but never so grand, or so beautiful, as the forests of the more south-eastern parts of Brazil. Pasturage does not exist here as in the elevated lands of the mining districts, but is found chiefly on the light hilly lowlands, seldom on the low scattered mountains. The group of Parime-mountains in the north, and the ramifications of the Andes bound this extended tract of land to the north and west. A lower, rougher, and very stunted border of forest, in its individual character extremely peculiar, (the Ceja de la Montana,) appears to mark the boundary of this vegetation, and that of Peru on the borders of Popayan and Maynas;—and this kind of vegetation extends into the district of the great Rio de Madeira, far to the south, beyond the union of the Iteney or Guaporé and Mamoré. Its extreme boundary in the south may be taken at about the 13° of S. lat. (near the Destacamento das Pedras,) where the banks of the river are more elevated and steeper, so as to check the floods, and where the branches of the Serra geral de Cujaba in the west, and the Serra dos Guarajus in the north, mark the commencement of the mining district. Brazil therefore presents, on its northern and western sides, a very connected Flora which encloses a great portion of the other vegetable districts. The plants of Mato Grosso appear all to belong to this line of vegetation : or if from the higher districts of the province, (which is known to agree in the mountain-formation, and its riches in gold and diamonds, with Minas Geraes and the highlands of Goyaz,) they are then constituent parts of the mountain Flora, sometimes the same species as those found further east, oftener species of similar genera. Links of these vegetable forms occur along the Madeira River and the other great tributaries to the

p. 37
Amazon, and each of these rivers appears, agreeably to its geographical extent and to the nature of its high lands at the sources, to possess its peculiar Flora, which assimilates itself the more to that of the Amazon the nearer they approach the latter. The Flora of these large tributaries has hitherto been scarcely examined.

The regions that have now been noticed in their general outline may properly be considered as the principal ones, or provinces of the empire of the Brazilian Flora. Many, we may say, by the greater part of the individual species, belong to one or other of these regions. Certain plants, however, are spread over many regions: many of the Dryades and Hamadryades appear throughout the whole extent of the tropics: so it is likewise with many of the trees that belong to the Regio montano-nemorosa, and the Regio calido-sicca. Numerous herbaceous plants are equally generally distributed. These widely extended plants Von Martius terms Vagae; and many of these, he observes, belong to the northern tropical formation of Eastern South America, or of the Flora of the Orinoco district, as a province of the empire of the Flora of Brazil, whilst the Regio extra-tropica, of Plantae Napaeae, ought to be reckoned to belong, not to this empire, but to the Flora of Buenos Ayres, Tucuman and Salta, or that of the cis-andine extra-tropical empire.

VI. The principles for the formation of the Herbarium Floree Brasiliensis are in part indicated in the preceding introduction ; the rest are scarcely of sufficient interest to induce us to make extracts from them.