BOTANICAL NOTES. 645 
have here two or three species. The Psoralea is a native of 
the central zone of shrubs, and its dried leaf is sometimes 
employed as a substitute for tea. One of the most abundant 
plants is the Dalea? (No.7), with blue flowers, universally 
found in the temperate regions of the Andes, between the 
limit of 8,000 and 11,000 feet. The Lupine, of which there 
are many species, flourishes on the more elevated plains, 
13,000— 15,500 feet; its seeds, though disagreeably bitter, 
are used by the Indians as an article of food. Lupinus— 
(No. 9), is one of the most diminutive, and occurs near the 
snow limit. But the most remarkable of the whole group 
is a gigantic species from Pichincha and Antisana, near 
the summit of these mountains, where its peculiar appearance 
cannot fail to attract the attention of the most careless 
observer. A floral spike, about thirty inches high, and 
hollow in the centre, springs from the ground, bearing 
numerous sessile blossoms, enveloped in a substance resem- 
bling silk. Its diameter is about four inches ; and, in shape, 
it very much resembles a club. "The leaves are all of them 
radical, deeply divided, and supported on long silky foot- 
stalks. The entire plant is too bulky for the herbarium. 
All the Lupines I have hitherto found in this country have 
blue flowers. 
On the dry and parched savannahs of the coast, and dis- 
tributed in clumps or patches, are many arborescent Mimose ; 
more abundant as we recede from the base of the Andes, 
which can only be accounted for by the superior dryness of the 
climate. Near the coast the wet season scarcely lasts three 
months; but it sometimes, though rarely, happens, that 
little or no rain falls for two, or even three years. A com- 
plete failure of the more tender gramineous plants is the 
consequence; and the numerous. herds of cattle, reared 
on the plains, have then no other means of subsistence than 
the tender shoots and foliage of the Mimose, which are 
greedily devoured. As might be expected, many of the - 
animals perish ; but the mortality, I believe, to be occasioned 
rather by the scantiness, than by any noxious quality pos- 
