116 ME. JOSEPH W00D3* NOTES OF A BOTANICAL 



saxatilU in abundance, Osyris alba. Buta bracteosa (the 



Stachys recta. Campanula 



There was also a laree vellc 



) 



>idica^ and 



one spot. 



to he only a variety of 0. major. An abundant shrubby vege- 

 tation on a rocky soil .prevented me from ascertaining on what 

 plant it was growing. I noticed afterwards what appeared to be 

 the same species on an old wall at Somahoz, but the labours of M. 

 Eeuter, in the * Prodromus,' have rendered it impossible to de- 

 termine the species of an Orobanche. It is very possible that a 

 skilful botanist may distinguish species, where the differences are 



ma 



some characters which would enable a brother botanist to identify 

 his plants, he renders the science only the more obscure by pub- 

 lishing them. 



To return to La Pena : Ficus carica grows in the crevices of the 

 rocks, and if not an original native, is now perfectly naturalized. 

 Bushes of Quereus Ilex are found with prickly leaves : I mistook 

 it at first for Quereus coccifera. At the foot of the Pena, in a 

 meadow crossed by a track leading from some quarries down to 

 the shore of the harbour, we find great abundance of Serapias 

 Cardiff era mixed with the rarer 8. Lingua, and I believe it was here 

 that I gathered some specimens agreeing perfectly with S. stricta 

 of "Welwitsch, which is, I think, the 8. pa/rviflora of the * Pro- 

 dromus.* Carum verticillatvm occurs on the same spot : and a 

 little farther from the Pena, at the head of the bay, on a flat 

 moorish tract not much elevated above the tide, I met with 8i' 

 methis bicolor plentifully, Fvnguicula lusitanica, Cicendia Jiliformis 

 and Ulecehrum verticillatum. One would prefer to find plants 

 not known in England, but there is great pleasure in meeting 

 with those we have formerly thought it a triumph to find in our 

 own countiy. 



Another interesting walk is towards the mouth of the harbour. 

 There is a delightful footpath a little way from the edge of the 

 low cliffs which form its shore, and though the mountains are the 

 same as those we admired from Fuente del Mar and from La Pefia 

 di Castillo, they present themselves in new forms and with new 

 combinations. One of the first objects in this direction is an 

 Irisy growing in company with L Jwtidissima ; it is perhaps /. 

 pumilaj but I saw no trace either of flowers or fruit. The two 

 species of Serapias are abundant, and we have likewise Omitho* 

 galnm narhonense vixxiMlinm fallow. J^nosnr us echinatus and 



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