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of peaches; and from time to time we passed large Ombu trees. 
It may be interesting to note that the Ombu (Pkytolacca dioica) 
belongs to the same genus as the common poke-weed (Phytolacca 
decandra). It is a handsome tree with dense foliage, large dark- 
green elliptical leaves, and a swollen buttressed trunk. It is said 
that its berries are sometimes used for coloring wine. Its wood 
is soft and almost of herbaceous consistency, so that it is unfit 
for purposes of construction, or even for burning. Its vitality is 
great; I saw several young trees growing from the margins of 
stumps of old ones which had been cut down. In describing to 
me the softness of the wood, one of my acquaintances in Monte- 
video said: “ You could cut an Ombu down with a knife, as 
though it were of butter.” 
At Independencia the railroad embankments were covered 
with patches of purple Verbenas, yellow Senecios, blue Lupines, 
and the daisy-like Anthemis arvensis. We saw also quantities 
of a little European Silene (S. Gallica, L.) and the common 
Echium violaceum. In a little valley near an outcrop of Syenite, 
I collected a delicate ‘‘ golden” fern (Gymunogramme cherophylla, 
Desv.), and the rank Blechnum australe, L. The rocks were 
covered with mosses, among which were a Grimmia and a Cam- 
pylopus. Near by, in a damp place, I found Ranunculus muri- 
catus, an odd-looking Plantago, and two or three species of 
Oxalis, one of which had handsome yellow flowers and thick 
substantial hairy leaves growing on a long trailing stem. 
Near the Arroya de las Piedras, I gathered some _ beautiful 
grasses, among which were Melica papilionacea, L., bearing 
large pendant glumes like May-flies clinging to the stem; Calo- 
theca elegans, Beauv.; and the tiny introduced Briza minor, L. 
Suddenly we came upon a patch of dazzling scarlet which seemed 
to be intensified by the bright green of the grass around it. It 
was the Verbena chamedrifolia, Juss. (—= V. Melindres, Gill.), a 
plant which gave me more pleasure, I think, than anything else I 
have ever collected. I collected the only indigenous Anemone 
(A. triternata, Vahl.) thus far known from the region. It looked 
somewhat like a diminutive A. Virginiana, L., and had nearly 
_ gone out of bloom. It was associated with a tiny umbelliferous 
plant with a bulbous root deep under the surface, somewhat like 
