252 Lists of the Plants of Chile. 



tues eminently pectoral are attributed to the malvavizco, and to the 

 pilapila, properties which are specific in diseases of the throat. 



M.a,rchaniia Chenopoda and polymorpha, L. These two Hepat- 

 icae are found in shady and humid situations, near drains and walls, 

 and among rocks and in woods on the mountains and plains. 



Margyricarpus setosus. Ruiz and Pavon. This under-shrub is 

 seen in the woods and ravines near the Cachapual running to Cangue- 

 nes. I have seen in these same places a shrub of the same family pre- 

 cisely similar in size. It differs only in the number of stamina which 

 are six ; in the fruit which is not drupaceous (drupaceo), and is 

 provided with four wings ; and finally, in the leaves which are obtuse. 

 It may form a new genus. 



JWntricaria Chamomilla. L. Vulgarly Manzanilla de Costilla. 

 It grows in olitories and cultivated places, and near houses. This 

 plant is generally employed as a medicine. The aromatic odor of 

 the whole plant and particularly of its flowers, and the bitter princi- 

 ple declare its virtues, which are confirmed by experience : particu- 

 larly with persons of a nervous temperament. Its infusion is pre- 

 scribed as a drink and as an injection. Fumigations of it are 

 also used. 



JV[aytenus Chilensis. DC. A pretty tree with light foliage and 

 hanging branches. It sometimes acquires a considerable elevation; 

 its wood serves for many works in carpentry. It might be employed 

 in forming woods and groves about country seats. Cattle eat its 

 leaves and even its bark in the winter season when fodder is scarce. 

 The M. Boaria, Molina, is the same badly described. It appears 

 that this author has examined the flower after the fall of the petals, 

 and calycine teeth, and he thought that the fleshy disk which sur- 

 rounds the ovary was the corolla. I have observed three very mark- 

 ed varieties which merit the attention of botanists ; the first, in the 

 woods of Leona. Its branches are straight, the leaves are twice as 

 large but less pointed. The other two resemble it in size 5 but the 

 first has the anthers sessile, the ovary more distinct, and the stigma 

 bifid. The stamens of the other have quite long filaments, the ovary 

 much shorter, and the stigma scarcely bilobate. Not having seen 

 its fruit, when ripe, I cannot at present say whether it belongs to a 

 different species. The variety angustifolia is met with near Quinta 

 and in Rio Claro. 



Medicago, L. Of all the species of this genus the most common 

 is the M. sativa, L. ; alfalfa. It is the general aliment of cattle, 



