BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 441 



Up to this point we followed a tolerably easy path, leading 

 into the Serrania de Ronda, over one of the lower points of 

 the chain ; but here I left Antonio and my guide, who were 

 to reach the ridge and to meet me on the summit, and struck 

 into a grove of firs on the left, where I gathered Arenaria 

 montana, Herniaria incana, Euphorbia verrucosa, Ceterach 

 Marantce, Ruscus aculeatus, and Aphyllanthes Monspeliensis ; 

 but many of these, and also Centaurea Tagana, Chanuspeuce 

 Hispanica, Scabiosa tomentosa, and a fine species of Cephalaria 

 were not yet in flower. At a height of about 3,000 feet, the 

 trunks and boughs of the trees were fringed with the lichens of 

 temperate Europe, Usnea barbata, Physciafurfuracea, and P. 

 ylauca ; and I also detected in chinks of the rocks, a particu- 

 larly pretty and delicate kind of Saxifrage. 



For about the last fourth of the ascent, the firs continued 

 to diminish, and they finally disappeared, being replaced by 

 the Pinsapo, which I had thus the satisfaction of examining 

 closely. The branches with which the trunk of this tree are 

 furnished from the very base, recalled our common spruce fir ; 

 but the remarkable and fleshy thickness of the short leaves, 

 with their cylindrical arrangement on the branches, forbid its 

 being referred to any known species. I hunted for cones, in 

 order to decide the point, but was unable even to find a scrap 

 of one, so I was compelled to defer my investigation to a 

 future period. Among mossy rocks, the elegant Cistus populi- 

 folius displayed its snowy blossoms, in spite of the chilly 

 coldness that prevailed in the mountain region. We are apt 

 to suppose that the genus Cistus is confined to the warmer 

 parts of the Mediterranean region, but such is not the case 

 with this species, nor with C. laurifolius, both of which I have 

 gathered at an elevation of 6,000 feet, in spots where snow 

 lies unmelted during four or five months of every year. I am 

 satisfied they would endure uninjured our winters in central 

 Europe. Two pretty Liliacece grew here, Ornithogalum um- 

 bellalum, and a Fritillaria, with its brown petals banded longi- 

 tudinally with yellow. 



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