Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

THE FORESTS OF ALAUSI 243
it turns white, and in a few minutes red. The
more rapidly this change is effected, and the deeper
is the ultimate tinge assumed, the more precious
is the bark presumed to be. It is rare to find
shoots springing from an old root, because the
roots themselves are generally stripped of their
bark, which, along
with the bark from the lower
part of the trunk, is known by the name of
" Cascarilla costrona "
(from " costra," a scab), and
is of more value than that from any other part of
the tree.
The Cascarilla roja seems to grow best on stony
declivities, where there is, however, a good depth
of humus, and at an altitude of from 3000 to 5000
feet above the sea. The temperature is very much
that of a summer day in London, though towards
evening each day cold mists blow down the valley
from Azuay ;
and
for five months in the year from
January to May there is almost unceasing rain.
If the Cascarilla roja has been almost extirpated
at Puma-cocha, there is still left abundance of
Salsaparilla, and of a very productive kind, for
Bermeo assured me he had once taken 75 Ibs.
weight of the roots from a single plant ;
whereas in
Brazil the greatest yield I have heard quoted was
a little over 30 Ibs. The Puma-cocha species has
a round stem and few prickles, while that most
esteemed on the Rio Negro has a triangular stem
thickly beset with prickles.
Let me now say a word about the other plants
accompanying the Cascarilla, and first of the Ivory
palm, which is known throughout the Ecuador by
the name of Cadi. ... It has a stout erect
trunk of i 5 or 20 feet ; the fronds are 30 feet long.