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On the 24th of July, I made an excursion for a single day 

 to Huayllay. Behind the town, large masses of Trachyte are 

 piled on the face of the hill, and in the little sheltered spots 

 between them, a luxuriant vegetation discovers itself, and 

 many plants are found there that do not appear in more 

 exposed situations, even where the elevation is much less. 

 There were several fine ferns, and I gathered, besides, Lyco- 

 podium crassuMi Ruhia hirta, Baccliaris genistelloides and 

 B. thyoides, Culcitium canescens, a new Alstroemeria, a species 

 o^ Atropa, and a large yellow-flowered Gentian. There were 

 likewise a few stunted shrubs, without flowers or fruit. All 

 these occurred nearly on the same spot; and I have no 

 doubt that a traveller, passing through Huayllay, who could 

 devote a day or two to exploring the hills near the town, 

 would find a great number of species, especially of ferns. I 

 also procured at Huayllay, the fruit of the woolly Cactus 

 before alluded to, which appears every where, from the pass 

 of La Viuda to Pasco ; it is eaten by the Indians, who call 

 the plant Huacura. The fruit o^ Alstroemeria dulcis is sought 

 after by the children, on account of a sweet gelatinous 

 pulp, resembling that of the pomegranate, in which its seeds 

 are imbedded; the plant is called Campanulas coloradas^ 

 {red bells,) to distinguish it from the Atropa, found in the 

 same places, to which they give the name of Campanulas 

 amarUlas, {yellow bells.) Among the ferns is an Acrostichum, 

 which at Huayllay is called Calaguala-, but the same name 

 is given indifferently to many ferns used as substitutes for 

 the genuine Polypodium Calaguala. 



On the 28th of August, 1 set out on my return to Lima, 

 where I arrived on the 2d of September. Above Culluay, 

 I gathered Calceolaria Iphata, and below that town, several 

 other species were loaded with flowers. Among other plants 

 that had flowered since June, were Tacsonia trifoliata, and 

 a species of Clemalis. On approaching Obrajillo, every 

 thing was dried up, and from thence to the coast, there was 

 scarcely a single plant in flower. 



As the season advanced, I had an opportunity of observing 

 the rapidity with which vegetation is arrested when the mist 



