258 



reported to be used for tins purpose. Lumholtz, the Mexican traveler, 

 says that "all the small eaeti are regarded with superstitious reverence 

 by the Tarahumari [ Indians |. They have different properties, the most 

 pronounced of them being to drive oft" wizards, robbers, and Apaches, 

 and to ward off diseases." They are generically called "hikora," "hikora 

 sunama" being Areocarpus Jissurattix, and "hikora wanami," Lopho- 

 phora williamsii. In the high Sierra Madre in the Territorio de Tepie i 

 collected specimens of one of these cacti which proves to be Mamillaria 

 senilis (PI. LXII). It is a curious little Mamillaria covered with long 

 white spines, whence the specific name. It has also been made the type 

 of a new genus, Maraillopsis, by Dr. Weber, but as I have seen neither 

 flower nor fruit I am not prepared to pass on its generic position. My 

 specimen is growing in the Botanical Garden at Washington. This 

 seems to be the "hikora roxanara 1 ' of which Lumholtz writes: -'Jtosa- 

 para is a white and spiny hikora differing from the two already men- 

 tioned. It must be touched with clean hands and only by people who 

 are well baptized, for he is a good Christian, say the Christian Tara- 

 humaris, and keeps a sharp eye upon the people around him." 



Mr. E. \Y. Nelson visited the Sierra Madre again in L898, where lit; 

 collected specimens and furnished me with the following interesting 

 note: 



The small hook-spined cactus grows on the rocks in the pine forest of the Sierra 

 Madre of northern Durango and southern Chihuahua. It was (omnia! bet ween 0,500 

 and 9,000 feet altitude. This is one of the sacred plants of the Tarahumari Indians, 

 and I was informed that the Indians who have had little intercourse with the Mexi- 

 cans can not bo induced to touch one of them. The specimens I secured wore fath- 

 ered by a Tarahumari man living on the ranch where I stopped. When I told the 

 Indian to gather the plants from the top of a great rock he hesitated and only did it 

 when I insisted upon his compliance. In palling the .specimen loose he tore out 

 another plant and before descending he raise.! the fallen plant unci replacing its roots 

 in position packed the soil very carefully about it, This little incident illustrates 

 the respect in which these people hold this plant. 



Nlcotiana rustica L. Tabaco i>k macuciii. 



The tobacco used by the Cora Indians is obtained from Nhotiana 

 rustic,/, which they call "tabaco de macuchi." Jt is grown in the hot 

 river valley near the little Indian hamlet of San Blascito, Topic. 

 Crescentia alata IT. P.. K. Tkcom m<: 



This is one of the most interesting trees which was seen on the 

 west coast of Mexico. It is peculiar in fruit, (lower, foliage, and hain't. 

 While the genus belongs to the Bignoniaceae, the hard, indehiscent, 

 gourd-like fruit and the wingless seeds are opposed to our usual ideas 

 of this order. The large brownish flowers are borne on the old wood, 

 often on the largest branches, frequently even low down on the main 

 trunk itself, and thus the fruits look as if they were glued on the sides 

 of the tree. The leaves have a broad, winged petiole, tipped with 3 

 small leaflets. The branches are usually erect, long, and whip-like. 



The trees are very common along the coast, often occurring in small 

 groves. 



