96 



FLORA OF COUNTRY AROUND PUNO. Chap. VI. 



walls. By far the greater number of plants are Compositce : of 

 these I observed three species of Tagetes — one with a small 

 yellow flower ; another very sweet, called by the Indians 

 Jiuaccatay and cliiccliiim, and used to flavour then' chupes ; 

 and a large shrubby marygold, called sunchu f also the com- 

 mon sow-thistle, a Sieracium, and the tola and ccanlli before 

 mentioned, used for fuel. I found two Verbenas and a 

 Solanum, all with purple flowers ; a clover, a creeping cucur- 

 bitaceous plant, two Cacti, a large dock, three Geraniums, all 

 with pink flowers ; three Crucifers, very small herbs, one with 

 a white flower, one with a yellow flower, and the thhd the 

 common shepherd's-purse ; a Gilium with a minute white 

 flower, a small legume with tomentose leaves, a pretty little 

 creeping Adoxa, a Statice, a wild Chenopodium, a Veronica, 

 a minute Stellaria, a Rhinanthus, a mallow, a plantago, and 

 three species of wild Oxalis, two very minute with white flowers, 

 and one with a yellow flower. There were also two ferns, one 

 a very beautiful Gymnogramma with silvery fronds ; nine 

 grasses, the most abundant of which was the coarse Stijm ycliu ; 

 and a few mosses. On the shores of lake Titicaca I saw 

 rushes in great quantities, a Mimulus, a Eanunculus, a Rumex, 

 and three grasses. These plants, though lowly and unpre- 

 tending, are in sufficient abundance to cover the country with 

 verdure and pretty Avild flowers, and brighten those parts 

 which are not cultivated. The cultivation consists of qui- 

 noa, canahua (both Clienopodia), barley, potatos, ocas {Oxalis 

 tuberosa), and wheat in very small quantities, which does not 

 ripen. 



Close to Puno, on the south, are the famous silver-bearing 

 mountains of Cancharani and Laycaycota, to which Puno 

 owes her existence : and to the discovery and working of the 



' Garcilasso de la Yega says that 

 the Indians boil the leaves of the 

 sunchu, aiitl then th-y them in the sun, 



and keep them to eat in the winter. 

 I. lib. 8, eap. xv. p. 284. 



