In the neighbourhood of Castroville, Trécul found, profusely scattered among the thickets, a species of Ephedra, closely resembling the Ephedra altissima, whose feeble reed-like branches were literally covered with small red fruits, producing a novel and attractive effect. As a plant curious from its mode of vegetation, and which is spread in Texas as well as in Louisiana, I may mention the Tillandria usneoides, so named after Professor Tillands, of Abo. This is a genus of Bromeliaceæ, growing on the boughs of trees, and notably on those of the evergreen oak. It hangs down like a tuft of long gray hair, in somewhat the same fashion as certain lichens (usnea) in European pine-forests, communicating to the trees a strange and positively weird aspect. The plant is collected, and the outer cellular portion being removed by soaking in water, the fibrous residuum is then employed to stuff cushions, mattresses, and pillows; whence it is sometimes called “Vegetable horse-hair.”
| 1. Yucca Tréculeana. | 4. Echinocactus robustus. |
| 2. Silphium terebinthinaceum. | 5. Cereus Peruvianus. |
| 3. Mamillaria rodantha. | 6. Opuntia microdasys. |
In the thickets that dot the central Prairies commonly flourish the Lantana Camara, and the curious Ungnandia speciosa, a species of chestnut tree on a very reduced scale.
It was in Texas, and in the rocky, arid, and hilly plains, that the French botanist Trécul discovered several notable varieties of Yuccas, to one of which, a new, and certainly the most beautiful species, his name has very justly been affixed: the Yucca Tréculeana. It raises its tall panicle of gorgeous flowers from the centre of a crown of glossy, rigid, spear-like leaves, like a victorious trophy. In Eastern Texas we note the first appearance, in the drier and stonier portions of the Prairies, of a representation of the family Cactaceæ, the Opuntia frutescens, frequently growing side by side with the Silphium terebinthinaceum. The Opuntia is more generally known as the “Indian Fig” or “Prickly Pear,” from the large purple juicy fruits which it yields. The Silphium belongs to the family of Compositæ. But Western Texas is the true birth-place of these oleaginous plants, some of which, such as the Echinocactus robusta, the Mamillaria rodantha, and the Opuntia microdasys (“small-thorny Opuntia”), are cultivated in our apartments, where they require but very little attention. M. Trécul has discovered in this region a new and rare variety of Echinocactus (E. Tréculeanus), some kinds of Cereus, and, especially, the Cereus Peruvianus, a beautiful plant with large showy flowers.
Such are the principal plants which, in North America, characterize the vegetation of the Prairies and the Savannahs. This rapid and condensed description will show the reader that the species most extensively spread belong to the genera in which are grouped the more common inhabitants of our own Old World meadows and grassy plains.
If we now transport ourselves, on the poet’s winged Pegasus, that takes no account of distance or of natural obstacles, to the Equatorial zone of the New World—into Guatemala, for example—we shall find the undulating and verdurous prairies giving place to high table-lands furrowed by deep and romantic ravines. Their botanical interest, however, is trivial, and their vegetation of a meagre and stunted kind. But between Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, lies an extensive valley, locally named Llanora, sown with numerous beautiful varieties of plants. Among them the Gramineæ family predominates, and, without attaining the proportions and the quality of the herbs which we shall meet with in the interior, form breadths of meadow very charming in their rare fresh greenness.
From the summit of the Cordilleras, in the neighbourhood of Bogota, at an altitude of about 3200 feet, the eye surveys almost the entire extent of those vast level plains which stretch from the base of the mountain-chain to remote Brazil, Guiana, and Venezuela.
The Steppes comprised between Bogota and the river Meta are formed, in general, of Gramineæ with crawling stems, and with nearly always very tall culms, especially in the cooler localities. Herbage is so abundant that the traveller who penetrates into these immense pastures experiences almost insurmountable difficulties. He himself and his horse are nearly hidden by the tall grasses, which frequently attain a stature of five to seven feet. And such is their vigour, that after having been burnt to the ground by one of the terrible conflagrations so frequent in these countries, they spring up again with wondrous swiftness; if the plants had not flowered prior to the passage of the destructive flames, they do so afterwards, and even when their leaves have been wholly destroyed. The lofty table-lands of Bogota and Tukerres, in New Grenada, present a succession of rich pasturages, perfumed by some species of Labiatæ, and notably by the Micromeria Browniana, which thrives among the Gramineæ, their fodder is highly esteemed.