



















■ 

























FLORA OF PATAGONIA. 



473 



far as the Kio Negro, there seems to be little risk of error in 

 adhering to the practice of previous writers, and treating Bahia 

 Blanca as botanically a portion of Patagonia. 



In a former paper I referred to the report of Professors Lorentz 

 and Niederlein on the collections made in the expedition under 

 General Boca, which followed the valley of the Eio Negro to the 

 junction of the Liraay with the Neuquen, and followed for some 

 distance the course of the latter stream. The collection made 

 by Mr. Williams Andrews was partly formed in the course of a 

 long land journey from Port Desire to the Bio Negro, but the 

 more interesting species were collected in an expedition which 

 ascended the valley of the Limay to the neighbourhood of the 

 large lake Nahuelhuapi. He thus had an opportunity of seeing 

 the vegetation of the eastern slopes of the Andes in a part never 

 visited by a naturalist, and the specimens which he was able to 

 carry away are quite sufficient to excite the interest and curiosity 

 of botanists. 



As was to be expected under the difficult conditions under 

 which the plants were collected and preserved, the collection is a 



one, and some of the specimens are too imperfect for 

 accurate determination. I enumerate in the following list 92 

 species as probably distinct, seven or eight being, however, too 

 imperfect to receive a specific name. There are no less than 

 39 out of the entire number which, so far as I can ascertain, 

 had not before been found in Patagonia, but with the exception 

 °f a single plant— a Zephyranthes, which is apparently different 

 from all the described species— the collection does not appear to 

 delude any plants new to science. The most singular plant in 

 the collection is Stiftia chrymntha, whose golden flowering heads 

 are an ornament to the hills near Mo Janeiro and San Paulo in 

 Brazil. Too conspicuous to be easily overlooked, tliis has not 

 been observed by any of the botanists who have explored the 

 Argentine territory from the tropic of Capricorn to the south 

 of Buenos Aires, or in any other part of the American continent 

 Uu til it was found by Mr. Williams Andrews near Lake Lajara 

 a °out the 41st degree of S. latitude. As it is impossible in this 

 ca se to suspect the agency of man, and not easy to suggest any 

 °ther probable means of transport, this must be reckoned as one 

 of the most remarkable instances of a disjoined habitat where 



small 







L *tfN. JOUEN. — BOTANY, VOL. XXVII. 



2h 











. 

















