Dr. Hooker gives the following interesting account of 

 the locality in which it was found, and of the uses to which 

 it is applied, from the papers of Dr. Gillies. 



" The Calceolaria described by Dr. Graham under the 

 name of C. arachnoidea, and to which I had assigned the 

 specific appellation of C. tinctoria, in consequence of its 

 utility in dying, I first found near the silver mines of 

 St. Pedro Nolasco, on the summit of the mountain so 

 called, near the junction of the river Maypu with the Rio 

 del Yeso and del Volcan. On a subsequent journey across 

 the Cordillera, further to the south, and opposite to San 

 Fernando, I also met with it in great abundance, growing 

 in all the most elevated valleys which I visited in the 

 vicinity of La Casa de las Damas. Here many people were 

 employed in digging up the roots, which they dry and 

 collect in bundles for sale, in Chili, where this plant is 

 in great use, under the name of Relhun, for dying woollen 

 cloths of a deep crimson colour. The alum-earth called 

 Poleura, and employed as a mordant in this process, is 

 obtained abundantly from a mountain in the neighbourhood. 

 It grows in hard gravelly soil, where the fibrous roots 

 penetrate in all directions ; a circumstance which renders 

 the collecting of this plant, to any considerable extent, a 

 work of time and labour. The C. arachnoidea flowers 

 about the end of March or beginning of April ; and at the 

 latter time the ripe seeds may also be procured. 



** The elevation of the Casa de las Damas, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of which the Relhun abounds, may be estimated 

 from the height of the barometer, which stood at 22,956 

 inches ; heat of mercury 54° ; temperature of atmosphere 

 52°. This Relbun appears to be quite distinct from that 

 which is mentioned by Molina, Chili, vol. i. p. 115." 



J. L. 



