Dr. Hooker gives the following interesting account of 
the locality in which it was found, and of the uses to which 
1t is applied, from the papers of Dr, Gillies. 
** The Calceolaria described by Dr. Graham under the 
name of C. arachnoidea, and to which 1 had assigned the 
specific appellation of C. tinctoria, in. consequence of its 
utility in dying, I first found near the silver mines of 
St. Pedro Nolasco, on the summit of the mountain so 
called, near the junction of the river Maypu with the Rio 
del Yeso and del Volean. On a subsequent journey across 
the Cordillera, further to the south, and opposite to San 
Fernando, I also met with it in great abundance, growing 
in all the most elevated valleys which I visited in the 
vicinity of La Casa de las Damas. Here many people were 
employed in digging up the roots, which they dry and 
collect in bundles for sale, in Chili, where this plant is 
in great use, under the name of Relbun, for dying woollen 
cloths of a deep crimson colour. The alum-earth called 
Poleura, and employed as a mordant in this process, is 
obtained abundantly from a mountain in the neighbourhood. 
It grows in hard gravelly soil, where the fibrous roots 
penetrate in all directions; a circumstance which renders 
the collecting of this plant, to any considerable extent, a 
work of time and labour. The C. arachnoidea flowers 
about the end of March or beginning of April; and at the 
latter time the ripe seeds may also be procured. 
“ The elevation of the Casa de las Damas, in the neigh- 
bourhood of which the Relbun abounds, may be estimated 
from the height of the barometer, which stood at 22,956 
inches; heat of mercury 54°; temperature of atmosphere 
52°. This Relbun appears to be quite distinct from that 
which is mentioned by Molina, Chili, vol. i. p. 115." 
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