206 



sometimes bearing stamens only; at other times, both 

 stamens and pistils, and these perfect. The stamens are 

 three-fourths of an inch long : filaments compressed : anthers 

 oblong, yellow. Pistils numerous: style, or awn, as long 

 as the stamens, very silky, naked only above. The leaves 

 are as described by M. Kunth ; and the stem is angled and 

 downy, 



2. Ranunculus Guzmannii ; foliis superne petiolisque vil- 

 losis, radicalibus si^borbiculatis trifidis, lobis apice grosse 

 dentatis, superioribus 3-fidis lobis oblongis integris, 

 caule erecto piloso paucifloro, calyce adpresso villosis- 

 simo. DC. — Hmnh. Tahl. Phys. des Reg. Eq. p. 69. Humb. 

 et Kunth, Nov. Gen. v. 5. ^:>. 43. De Less. Ic. v. \. t. 34. 

 De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 29. — /3. nanus; foliis profunde 

 partitis. 



Hab. /3. Pastures at Pasco. 



The solitary specimen of this plant, brought home by Mr. 

 Cruckshanks, agrees well with Humboldt's description and 

 with De Lessert's figure, except that the stem is scarcely 4 

 inches high, and the leaves are very deeply divided. The roots 

 are fasciculated, a span long. — This is a truly alpine species 

 of Ranunculus. It is among the plants noticed by M. de 

 Humboldt in describing the vegetable features, at different 

 elevations, of the aequinoctial regions. " Still higher," he says, 

 *' namely at an elevation of 3500 metres, (1796 toises,) 

 the arborescent plants terminate. It is only at the volcano 

 of Pichincha, in a narrow valley which descends from 

 Guaga-Pichincha, that we have discovered a groupe of 

 arborescent syngenesious plants, whose trunks attain to 7 or 

 8 metres, (21 or 24 Parisian feet.) To between 2000 and 

 4100 metres, (1026 to 2103 toises,) the region of alpine 

 plants extends : it is that of the Stcehelinas, of the Gentians, 

 of the Espeletia frailexon, whose downy leaves afford shelter 

 to the unhappy Indians who are benighted in these regions. 

 The turf is there adorned with the Lobelia nana, the Sida 

 Pichinchensis, the Ranunculus Guzmannii, the Ribes frigidum, 

 the Gentiana Quitensis, and many other species which will 



