264 Botanical Notices from Spain. 



Jasione montana, L., various Rubiacete and several Centaurece, espe- 

 cially C. Prolongi, Boiss., a pretty species with orange flowers tole- 

 rably frequent up to the summit. I also found on the acclivity and 

 in the valleys of the mountain- chain Iberis umbellata, L., Helminthia 

 echioides, L., Pulicaria odora, Rchb., Lagcecia cuminoides, L., Aphyl- 

 lanthes monspeliensium, L., Coris monspeliensis^ L., Genista hirsuta, 

 Vahl., G. umbellata, L., G. ramosissima, L., Herniaria polygonoides, 

 Cav., Xeranthemum erectum, Presl, plentiful ; more rare occurred 

 Chasmone argentea, E. Mey., Campanula Rapnnculus, L., Ergthrtea 

 major, L., Leuzea conifera, DC, and a Brassica. In fissures of the 

 rock on the summit I gRthered Jnthyllis podocephala,Boiss., in plenty; 

 and here grow also Umbilicus hispidus,t)C, several species of *Sec?Mm, 

 some grasses and Saxifraga globulifera, Desf., in large thick beds. 



On the 7th of June I left Malaga to travel over the coast chain 

 lying between this place and the boundaries of the province of Alme- 

 ria, with a view to proceed thence toward the interior of Andalusia. 

 The coast country appeared already very much parched, and in con- 

 sequence nothing of any importance was collected as far as Velez- 

 Malaga, excepting a rare plant, namely Withania frutescens, Boiss. 

 (Atropa frut., L.), a rare shrub, often exceeding a man's height, 

 of the growth of a Lycium, with white-gray virgate, hanging 

 branches, obtuse- elliptic dark green leaves and pendent yellow- 

 green flowers. This shrub is found in the hedges around Velez- 

 Malaga, as well as further towards the east around Motril, tolerably 

 frequent. The town of Velez-Malaga lies two miles distant from the 

 sea, near the left bank of the river of the same name, in the middle 

 of a beautiful woody plain, in which sugar-canes are largely grown, 

 and which is on three sides surrounded by a hilly table-land, rising 

 higher and higher and wholly covered with vines. Behind this table- 

 land rises the very steep and rocky Sierra Tejeda*, adolomitic range 

 more than 7000 feet in height, which divides the hilly land of the 

 coast from the plain of Granada. The Sierra Tejeda is the highest 

 portion of a long mountain-chain, which, under various names, 

 stretches from W.N.W. toward the E.S.E., and fills up the space 

 between the Guadalhorce and the Rio de Motril. The rocky moun- 

 tain-range of Antequera, lying north of Malaga, forms one of the 

 principal chains, but of no very important height, a branch of which 

 stretches far to the north, which takes its name of Sierra de Loja 

 from the town of Loja lying at its eastern foot, and is separated from 

 the Sierra de Montefrio by the Jenil which here breaks through. 

 The continuation of the chief mountain-chain, which connects the 

 Sierra of Antequera with the Sierra Tejeda, is called Sierra de Al- 

 hama, and this is separated by a deep rocky cleft, the Puerto de Za- 

 farraya, from the highest part of the Sierra Tejeda. The lower con- 

 tinuation of the Sierra Tejeda, running in a south-eastern direction, 

 passes imperceptibly over into the many-branched Sierra of the Al- 



* The Sierra Tejeda has its name from Taxus baccata, in Spanish Tejo, 

 which tree, according to tradition, once wholly covered it. It is still found 

 in isolated specimens at the spring Fuente del Tejo, which is situated in the 

 alpine region of this mountain-chain. 



