384 BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO SALINAS. 
of concentration. During the wet season; of course, no work 
can be done. 
No trees were found on this region excepting two Bud- 
dleas (Nos. 181 & 182), in the precincts of the village loaded 
with blossoms of a deep saffron colour,a large shrub (No. 
174), resembling a Thalictrum and used as a fence, Cassia 
(No. 214) and Datura sanguinea, which on the Andes appears 
to follow man wherever he chooses to establish himself. 
The nettle, of which there are two species, is another migra- 
tory plant, and will spring up wherever an attempt is made 
to cultivate the soil. I have frequently observed this plant 
on the elevated plains of the Andes, but always in circums- 
cribed localities : a sure indication that such spots were at 
one time tenanted by man and his flocks. : 
The village is backed by a wall of perpendicular cliffs many 
hundred feet in height, the rock being of the kind distin- 
guished by the term conglomerate. A constant disintegra- — 
tion is going forward, and wherever the water has under- — 
mined a portion of the stoney mass we have a beautiful vege- 
tation of Tropeolum (No. 155), Loasa (No. 156), and a Mu- 
_ lisia with orange-coloured flowers. Two Orchidee grow on the 
mural cliffs, one of them a Stelis with very succulent leaves; 
but on the elevated plains, the most abundant plants were — 
Plantago rigida (No. 10), and a beautiful little scarlet Gentian — 
which communicated a glow to the whole landscape. In — 
other respects the vegetation of this region is similar to that — 
I had seen en route. I shall therefore only add a list of Nat. 
Orders with the number of species occurring at the elevation — 
of 12,000—14,000 feet, which may be relied on as correct. —— 
Ranunculaceze 5 + 5 Onagrarieæ . SN 
Umbelliferæ i : + 7 Loaseæ . : Re 
Cruciferæ + 7 Melastomaceæ : 6 
Berberidee , . 2 Homalineæ . . "os 
Hypericineæ . 3 Sanguisorbeæ t. 0 
Escallonieæ ` 1 Rösaceæ = "Er 
Grossulaceæ me 9 
Leguminosæ . 
