46 



with numerous spines, the sting of which made my fingers tingle 

 for hours afterwards. It is Urtica spathulata, which T warn all 

 North American botanists who follow in my track to collect with 

 gloves on their hands. 



Soon after my arrival I took the cars to La Plata, a city 

 which lies about 20 miles to the south of Buenos Aires, in order 

 to pay a visit to the well-known botanist, Dr. Carlos Spegazzini, 

 who was formerly connected with the University of this place, 

 but is now a Professor in the Colegio Nacional of La Plata. Dr. 

 Spegazzini received me with the utmost cordiality, and even left 

 his classes in the college to escort me to his home, and accom- 

 pany me back to this city. To his extensive knowledge of the 

 local flora I am indebted for the means of identifying many of 

 the plants mentioned in this article. In his garden, growing 

 spontaneously, were quite a number of the wild plants common 

 in the vicinity, such as Erigeron Bonariense, Gnaphalium Ameri- 

 camim, Soliva anthemiifolia, Soliva sessilis, Malva parviflora, 

 Heliosciadutm leptophylliim, and Bromus unioloides. I also had 

 the pleasure of getting from his grounds Herbarium specimens 

 of a number of the rare shrubs which grow in the northern 

 provinces of Argentina, such as Diivaiia longifolia, Tillandsia 

 bicolor, Carica {Vasconella) quercifolia and Buddleia hebijlora. 

 Dr. Spegazzini has devoted much attention to the Fungi, Char- 

 aceae and other cryptogamous plants, and also to the Gramineae, 

 of which he has a large collection. He has published a number 

 of works upon South American plants, having travelled as far 

 South as Terra del Fuego to make observations. He 

 enthusiastic botanist, and received me with a courtesy and gen- 

 erosity for which I cannot be too grateful. 



I have also made several excursions from the city in other 

 directions, mainly for the purpose of observing the Pampas, upon 

 which I have for years longed to gaze. For many miles in this 

 vicinity these plains are cultivated in villages or cattle farms, 

 known as Estancias, and therefore cannot be seen in all their 

 native wildness. For that one must travel from one hundred to 

 two hundred miles, but what I can see within easy reach shows 

 clearly the prodigious vitality and fecundity of the thistles, 

 which, as is well known, have invaded the soil by le-ions! 



IS an 



