248 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



for two years I had sought in vain in other 

 localities. But I was most pleased to find a moss 

 with large laciniato-ciliate leaves so novel a 

 feature in this tribe that I took it for a Plagiochila, 

 until I found the capsules nestling amongst the 

 terminal leaves. 



To return, however, to our Cascarillas, of which 

 there are two sorts in Llalla, the one called 

 " Ciichi-cara" or Pig-skin, because dried pieces of 

 the bark resemble morsels of pig's skin boiled and 

 then grilled (which is a favourite dish in Ecuador). 

 The same bark is sometimes called Chaucha, a 

 term implying thickness without much consistence ; 

 as, for example, in this bark, which shrinks much 

 in drying, and in a sort of large watery potato, 

 called Chauchas. The other bark is called " Pata 

 de gallinazo " or Turkey-buzzard's foot ; it does not 

 peel off freely like the other, and when dried gener- 

 ally occurs in small split fragments, but as it is 

 rather deeper -coloured it is more esteemed than 

 the Cuchicara. The same or similar kinds are 

 known in other districts as Cascarilla naranjada. 

 The demand for either kind has of late years been 

 very slight, so that there has not been such 

 destruction of these barks as of the red, and on a 

 stony hill-side not far from the hut I found above 

 twenty large trees of the Cuchicara, from 40 to 50 

 feet high. All had fruited freely this year, but the 

 capsules were already empty, with the exception ol 

 one small corymb. In the forest of Yalancay, on 

 the opposite side of the river and near the road 

 leading from Alausi to Guayaquil, I afterwards 

 found a tree with recent fruit and even a few 

 flowers. The latter are deep brick- red, and the 



