188 



MR. BUNBURY ON THE VEGETATION OF BUENOS AYRES 



Gomphocarpus. 



Oxypetalum. 



Araujia (Physianthus, Mart.). 



Philibertia. 



Schistogyne. 



Lantana. 



Calonyction. 



Nicotiana. 



Nierembergia. 



Petunia. 



Jaborosa. 



Himeranthus. 



Oestrum. 



Buddlea. 



Scoparia ? 



Herpestes. 



Dicliptera. 



Bignonia. 



Argemone. 



Passiflora. 



Blumenbachia. 



Begonia} (There is some doubt 

 about the locality of the spe- 

 cimens of this.) 



Pavonia. 



Sida. 



Abutilon. 



Buttneria. 



Stigmaphyllon. 



Heteropterys. 



Paullinia. 



Croton. 



Phyllanthus. 



Schinus. 



Chymocarpus. 



Jussitea. 



Heimia. 



Cuphea. 



Eugenia. 



Ch(stogastra(Arthrostemma, DeC). 



Mimosa. 



Desmanthus. 



Inga. 



Calliandra. 

 Acacia. 

 Parkinsonia. 

 Cassia. 



Poinciana (perhaps introduced?). 

 Crotalaria. 

 Indigofera. 

 Tephrosia. 

 Daubentonia. 

 Desmodium. 

 AEschynomene. 

 Clitoria. 

 Camptosema. 

 Canavalia. 

 Galactia. 

 Vigna. 



Erythrina (E. Crista-galli, perhaps 

 introduced at Buenos Ayres). 

 Rhynchosia. 

 Macheerium. 



Such estimates are of course liable to some variation, according to the different opinions 

 entertained by different botanists as to the limits of genera. In the above list I have 

 taken Endlicher's ' Genera Plantarum ' for my guide. 



The above observations will show how materially the Argentine Flora differs, in reality, 

 from that of Europe. What principally contributes to give it, at first sight, a European 

 aspect, is the great number and extraordinary prevalence of naturalized European plants, 

 — plants evidently introduced in the first instance by accident, and which, being of a hardy 

 constitution, and possessing efficient means of propagation, have spread so rapidly as to 

 cover the soil to a great extent, and actually to predominate over the native growth. No 

 small proportion of the plants which a stranger will observe in his first rambles in the 

 neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres are colonists from our quarter of the globe. The fallow 

 fields about that city are blue with Echiwm violaceum; the banks of earth are covered 

 with the common Eennel ; the ditch-sides and waste ground are overrun with Chenopo- 

 dium album, Sonchus oleraceus, and Xanthium spinosum ; Trifolium repens and Medicago 

 denticulata form much of the herbage near the river-side ; and among the most common 

 grasses are Loliwm perenne and multijlorum, Hordeum murinum and H. pratense. What 

 is more remarkable, these intrusive strangers are not confined to the cultivated lands or 

 to the neighbourhood of the city, but have spread far and wide over the open plains. The 

 "thistles" and "clover" which clothe the Pampas of Buenos Ayres for leagues and leagues 

 together, have been described by many travellers ; they are Carduus Marianus, Cynara 

 Cardunculus, and Medicago denticulata, all of them European species. The two former 

 have spread themselves also over the country north of the Plata, where M. de St. Hilaire 

 found them covering wide tracts of country. It would seem that these temperate regions 

 of South America are peculiarly favourable to the growth of European plants, and that 



