192 Botanical Notices from Spain. 



crithnifolia, Boiss., growing at the foot of the shady rock, which is 

 kept perpetually moist by the spray from the foaming river, and of 

 which plant I have only found a single specimen. On the same rock 

 grows Campanula Erinus, L., in abundance, common on all rocks in 

 the lower part of the mountain, as well as in the environs of Malaga; 

 and at the foot occurred, frequent, Scrophularia auriculata, L., and 

 various umbelliferous plants not yet in blossom. 



From hence I started for the Nacimiento, accompanied by the 

 apothecary and the physician of the town, both friends of M. Pro- 

 longo, and from whom I experienced the most hospitable reception. 

 The path winds along the left side of the valley, one while over de- 

 clivities of boulders, at another on the edge of giddy precipices. 

 Here, upon sunny masses of rock, grows the charming Linaria satu- 

 reioides, Boiss., frequent, together with Polygala saxatilis, Desf. (P. 

 juniperina, Cav.), Echium albicans, Lag., and the beautiful Reseda 

 undata, L., a magnificent plant of two to three feet high, with close 

 compact heads of large white flowers with purple anthers, which 

 were unfortunately afterwards lost by accident, as well as some 

 branches of the splendid Lavatera arbor ea, a large shrub of which I 

 remarked in full blossom on a perpendicular, inaccessible wall of 

 rock. In sunny clefts of the rock blossomed the shrubby Anthyllis 

 podocephala, Boiss., a beautiful species with golden flowers, also Mi- 

 cromeria grceca, Bth., Lavandula multifida, L., and other rock-plants. 

 Higher up a perpendicular and lofty wall of rock, over which a little 

 rivulet precipitates itself, stretches obliquely across the valley, and 

 closes it abruptly ; to the left of this rivulet, and on the right side 

 of the valley, lies the Nacimiento of the Rio Grande. This is a 

 spacious dark rocky cavern, the bottom of which is formed of a large 

 basin of crystal water, from which the stream issues. The entrance 

 of the cavern is overshadowed by old wild fig-trees, in whose shade 

 grow Orleya grandiflora, Hoflfm., Scrophularia auriculata^ L., Gera- 

 nium Robertianum, &c. 



The next day I made an excursion to the Convento de las Nieves, 

 a lonely convent situated at the foot of the Sierra de la Nieve, which 

 rises in grotesque forms, some leagues to the north of Yunquera. 

 It lies on the acclivity of a tolerably broad valley, filled with thick 

 copse-wood, which passes over higher up into a deep rocky barranco. 

 In the neighbourhood of the convent I found, upon dry grass plots, 

 Linaria tristis. Mill., and the pretty Trixago latifolia, Rchb. The 

 wood consists mostly of Quercus Suber, Qu. Ilex, Qu. lusitanica and 

 faginea (Qu.faginea, Lamk., Qu. valentina, Cav.), which were just in 

 full blossom ; and below, Qu. pseudo-coccifera, Desf., Qm. cocci/era, L., 

 and Qu. Mesto, Boiss., a pretty shrubby oak with round thorny denti- 

 culated leaves, which was unfortunately not in flower. In this wood 

 I gathered a Coronilla (T?), Cephalanthera ensifolia. Rich., Orchis 

 longicrucis, Lk., Scilla campanulata, Ait. (Hyacinthus cernuus, Brot.), 

 Helleborus fcetidus, L., common throughout the whole Serrania, 

 which was here already out of flower, whilst in the alpine regions 

 of the Sierra de Yunquera it had scarcely begun to flower. From 

 hence I ascended to the Pico Jarro, one of the highest rocky summits 



