1862.] BOTANY OF SPAIN, 37 



cut or the cattle driven iu among tliem, are often one mass of 

 bloom^ giving its colour to the mountain sides from a great dis- 

 tance. The meadows for many miles below Puycerda were of 

 this character. They were as white with Narcissus poeticus as 

 Enghsh meadows at the same season are yellow with Buttercups. 

 In other places the dark variety of Columbine [Aquilegia vul- 

 garis) divided the honours with the Narcissus, or engrossed the 

 larger part ; while several Umbellifers in full flower contributed 

 a difterent kind of white colour to the mixture, particularly Cha- 

 ropliyllum hirsutum, with a plant resembling PhnjjhieUa magna, 

 and, I believe, Ligusticum pyrenceum ; the fruits of neither being 

 yet in a state to admit of their being determined. The other 

 plants of which I made a note are the following : — 



Of Ranunculaceae, the finest, besides the Columbine, was Adonis 

 flammea, wdth flowers of the same bright colour but greater size 

 than those of A. autumnalis. A. pyrenaica, though common 

 among the corn near Bourg-Madame, I did not see on the Spanish 

 side of the frontier. The remaining Ranunculacea were Clematis 

 Vitalba and Flammula, Helleborus foetidus (a plant universal in 

 the Pyrenees), and Caltha palustris. The Papaveracem I saw were 

 Papaver Rhceas, Chelidonium majus, and Hypecoum procumhens. 

 There were, as usual, many Crucifers. Of Alyssums, there were 

 (besides A. calycinum) the plant which I had found at Alcolea, 

 and called A.perusianum, and a yellow species akin to montanum, 

 A. cuneifolium. Erysimum lanceolatum, a frequent plant of the 

 Pyrenees, was there, with its large bright yellow flowers ; and 

 three Sisymbria, S. Sophia, obtusangulum, and a common Pyre- 

 nean species, with a mass of flowers succeeded by long spikes of 

 slender highly curved pods, S. austriacum, the most common va- 

 riety of which is otherwise known as Sinapis pyrenaica. The 

 only Arabis I noticed was, I believe, Gerardi. The Biscutella 

 was not the J\f onserrat species (or variety), but the common Medi- 

 terranean plant, B. ambigua. I had previously found in the valley 

 of the Tet, near Fonpedrouze, a much rarer species, B. cichorii- 

 folia, resembling the former in little except the twin shields, from 

 which the genus derives its name. Of other Siliculosce, I noted 

 Iberis amara, Thlaspi arvense, Lepidium heterophyllum, the plant 

 of which our L. Smithii is classed by French botanists as a va- 

 riety, and the stately spreading Neslia paniculata, with its nearly 

 globular pods. The genus Cistus seemed wanting in this district. 



