322 Mr Arnott's Toiir to the South of France 



The river now soon forked, and we ascended the mountain 

 between the branches. Here the vegetation was scanty, but en- 

 tirely alpine. Ranunculus parnassifolius. Gallium Villarsuy 

 Req. and Iberis carnosa^ were in every debris till we reached 

 the summit. Here the mist and rain came on us so thick, that 

 we could scarcely see twenty feet before us, and consequently 

 could have no view, or have any idea how the road was to turn. 

 We, however, took the more prudent plan, and tracked the mule 

 that carried our luggage, and which, with our guide, had gone 

 on long before us. After a long and winding descent, in which 

 we only procured Aretia carnea^ Lychnis alpina, Ranunculus 

 parnassifolius. Azalea procutnhens, Festuca esMa, and varia, 

 Schcenodorus spadiceus, Trichodium alpinum, and some others, 

 most of which we had already gathered, we arrived at the river 

 in the valley, and, crossing it, soon came in sight of our resting- 

 place. 



As we botanized the following day in the valley of Querals, 

 we again saw profusion of Gentiana pyrenaica ; we also fell in 

 with a few large tufts or cushions of Galium pyrenaicum. 

 Daphne collina, Nigritella angustifolia. Pedicular is ^liosa, and 

 Ranunculus aconitifolius were observed ; and on a rock between 

 the Hermitage and the head of the valley, we got Lecanora 

 chrysoleuca «, Ach. (with which L. liparia /3, Ach. is identical), 

 and Androsace irnbricata, DC Much confusion has of late 

 arisen regarding this species, and in their elaborate Systema, 

 Roeraer and Schultes seem to have increased it; but the charac- 

 ters proposed by De Candolle are alone entitled to any regard ; 

 those given by Lapeyrouse, and adopted by Sprengel, do not 

 appear to exist at all. At all events, the A. argentea, Gaert. 

 and Lapeyr. is the A. imbricata, DC. and what we found at 

 Nouri : it is covered with a close, white, starry pubescence. Of 

 it I possess Swiss specimens, under various erroneous names, as 

 Aretia helvetica, tomentosa, pubescens, &c. The A. bryoides^ 

 DC. has the leaves, especially towards their point, furnished 

 with simple, diaphanous, reflexed hairs, which are apparently 

 glutinous. This, of which I have never seen a Pyrenean spe- 

 cimen, may be A. aretia^ Lapeyr., though I confess I suspect 

 with De Candolle, that LapeyrouseV plant is only a state of 



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