Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Such Are The General
Phenomena Of The Distribution Of Plants.
It is now said that a mountain is high enough to enter into the
limits of the rhododendrons and the befarias, as it has long been
said that such a mountain reached the limit of perpetual snow.
In
using this expression, it is tacitly admitted, that under the
influence of certain temperatures, certain vegetable forms must
necessarily be developed. Such a supposition, however, taken in all
its generality, is not strictly accurate. The pines of Mexico are
wanting on the Cordilleras of Peru. The Silla of Caracas is not
covered with the oaks which flourish in New Grenada at the same
height. Identity of forms indicates an analogy of climate; but in
similar climates the species may be singularly diversified.
The charming rhododendron of the Andes (the befaria) was first
described by M. Mutis, who observed it near Pamplona and Santa Fe
de Bogota, in the fourth and seventh degree of north latitude. It
was so little known before our expedition to the Silla, that it was
scarcely to be found in any herbal in Europe. The learned editors
of the Flora of Peru had even described it under another name, that
of acunna. In the same manner as the rhododendrons of Lapland,
Caucasus, and the Alps* (* Rhododendron lapponicum, R. caucasicum,
R. ferrugineum, and R. hirsutum.) differ from each other, the two
species of befaria we brought from the Silla* (* Befaria glauca, B.
ledifolia.) are also specifically different from that of Santa Fe
and Bogota.* (* Befaria aestuans, and B. resinosa.) Near the
equator the rhododendrons of the Andes (Particularly B. aestuans of
Mutis, and two new species of the southern hemisphere, which we
have described under the name of B. coarctata, and B. grandiflora.)
cover the mountains as far as the highest paramos, at sixteen and
seventeen hundred toises of elevation. Advancing northward, on the
Silla de Caracas, we find them much lower, a little below one
thousand toises. The befaria recently discovered in Florida, in
latitude 30 degrees, grows even on hills of small elevation. Thus
in a space of six hundred leagues in latitude, these shrubs descend
towards the plains in proportion as their distance from the equator
augments. The rhododendron of Lapland grows also at eight or nine
hundred toises lower than the rhododendron of the Alps and the
Pyrenees. We were surprised at not meeting with any species of
befaria in the mountains of Mexico, between the rhododendrons of
Santa Fe and Caracas, and those of Florida.
In the small grove which crowns the Silla, the Befaria ledifolia is
only three or four feet high. The trunk is divided from its root
into a great many slender and even verticillate branches. The
leaves are oval, lanceolate, glaucous on their inferior part, and
curled at the edges. The whole plant is covered with long and
viscous hairs, and emits a very agreeable resinous smell. The bees
visit its fine purple flowers, which are very abundant, as in all
the alpine plants, and, when in full blossom, they are often nearly
an inch wide.
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