842 Botanical Notices from Spain. 



cens, Poir., and other mountain plants. I found rarely in this moun- 

 tain-chain the beautiful silver-coloured Pterocephalus spathulatus, 

 Boiss. (Knautia spath. Lag. gen. et sp.), forming patches, on fallow 

 land Anagallis verticillata, All. ; and along the road- side and in 

 ditches Hypericum tomentosum, L., and the beautiful Salvia phlomoi- 

 des, Asso. Lastly, I gathered in the valleys of the Sierra del Moli- 

 nillo, whose vegetation agrees on the whole with the already-de- 

 scribed Sierra, a very beautiful yellow Astragalus, and in clefts of 

 the shady limestone rocks the Sarcocapnos crassifolius, DC, forming 

 very brittle beds. 



With this mountain district is connected on the east a broad, 

 partly undulating and barren high table-land, which on the south is 

 surrounded by the Sierra Nevada and its branches, on the east by 

 the Sierra de Gor, and on the north by other lower mountain-chains, 

 and in whose soil (which consists of tertiary and diluvial formations) 

 the rivers descending from the Sierra Nevada have worn very pecu- 

 liarly formed ravines, or deep valleys. This is the Plain of Guadix, 

 which possesses only a scanty but peculiar vegetation. The whole 

 ground is evidently very much charged with salt, which is partly 

 proved by the neighbouring mineral waters of Graena, and partly 

 by the saline plants which occur. The following plants grow here 

 very plentifully : Lygeum Spartum, L., Feganum Harmala, L., Astra- 

 galus tumidus, W. {Anthyllis tragacanthoides, Desf.), Macrochloa 

 tenaclssima, Kth., Artemisia campestris , I^., A. Barrelieri, Boiss., 

 various Chenopodiacece and Salsolacece, and on isolated places Sideri- 

 tis linearifolia, Lag., a delicate species with lineal subulate leaves 

 and whitish-yellow flowers. On walls and ditches in the environs 

 of the pleasant town of Guadix, which lies in a wide valley, were at 

 this time in blossom Ephedra altissima, Desf., Lepidium latifolium, 

 L., Althaa officinalis, L., and Vitecc Agnus-castus, L., in abundance. 



Further eastwards, and separated from the Plain of Guadix by the 

 Sierra de Gor, which is extremely poor in plants, but partly covered 

 with fir-trees, is the broad gypsum basin of Baza, in the midst of 

 which rises the Sierra de Baza, a perfectly isolated great rocky 

 mountain, which I regret that I have not been able to visit. The 

 limits of this plain, destitute alike of trees and water, and intersected 

 by a thousand small valleys, are, on the south, the mountain- chains 

 of Lucar and Seron, on the east the chains of CuUar, Oria and Pe- 

 riate, and on the north the lofty chains of Huescar and Cazorla, in 

 which are the sources of the Guadalquivir. The town of Baza lies 

 on the acclivity of a chain of sand-hills, on which Santolina canes- 

 cens, Lag., flowers in great abundance, and near to the river of the 

 same name, on whose sandy banks I gathered, under shrubs of Ta- 

 marix gallica and oleanders, Frankenia pulverulenta, L., and Cynan- 

 chum monspeliacum, L. As soon as the river is crossed, you enter 

 on the so-called gypsum formation, the shining white ground is 

 covered with a purely saline vegetation. Immense tracts were exclu- 

 sively covered with Macrochloa tenacissima, Kth. ; on other localities 

 the flora consisted of a number of interesting plants, as Lygeum 

 Spartum, Ohione portulacoides , Mocq., Frankenia thymifolia, Desf., 



