655 BOTANICAL NOTES. 
Valeriana i = š 132 Loranthus è E 163 
Gaultheria ` 3 : 161 Vaccinium i i 165 
tomentosa . . 162 Rubus glabratus . 311 
Loranthus 
A few of these ligneous plants, such as Hypericum laricifo- 
lium, Baccharis odorata, and the Composita marked (No. 
236), ascend as high as 13,000 feet, intermingled with a long, 
hard, wiry-leaved grass, which very soon monopolizes the 
whole surface, to the exclusion of every other vegetable, 
excepting, perhaps, Valeriana rigida, Swertia umbellata, 
Vernonia nubigena, and the common wild thyme of the 
country, (No. 142), ape nubigenus. The practice of set- 
ting fire to the “ paramos,” as they are called, is perhaps one 
reason why no shrubs are found on this region. On the 
eastern chain of the Andes, the domain of the grassy plants 
is very extensive, and thousands of cattle are reared at an 
elevation of from 13,000 to 15,000 feet above the coast. 
The transverse ridge of Asuay, over which is traced the 
main road to Cuenca, is a desolate and dreary waste of 
country, clothed with this hay-coloured grass, waving about 
in the breeze; not a single habitation being visible through- _ 
out a long day's journey. The weather, too, is subject to - 
sudden vicissitudes; from bright sunshine to sudden fogs; - 
and, not unfrequently, showers of hail or sleet, accompanied 
by violent thunderstorms. | 
At 15,000—15,500 feet we enter the region of the Alpine 
plants, properly so called; comprising the Gentiane, the — 
Culcitia, the Valeriane, the Drabe, &c. The few shrubs 
peculiar to this region have generally a twisted knotty stem, 
producing a tuft of leaves and flowers at the extremity of 
each branch. Of this description are Aster rupestris (No. 
233), and Ribes frigidum, (No. 160). Chuquiraga insignis, a 
compound shrub, found universally near the summit of the 
Andes, has remarkably stiff horny leaves. A few Caryo- 
phyllee, (Cerastium and Arenaria), Leguminose, (Lupinus and 
Astragalus,) and Geraniacee, (Geranium,) make up the "e 
of the vegetation of these lofty regions. i 
