70 
living plants, but we have now succeeded in bringing together 
at the Garden most of the West Indian kinds and a few from 
continental tropical America. The most attractive floral feature 
observed was in hillside woodlands at Punta Piedra, a half 
shrubby species of the acanthus family, with rose-purple flowers. 
Ripe seeds of it were obtaine 
On March 9, we proceeded Hon Antilla to Santiago by rail, 
and Santiago was made a general base of operations for two 
weeks. I especially desired to see the native cactuses of this 
and obtaining specimens for cultivation of all the species known 
to inhabit the region. They grow on dry, rocky hillsides along 
and near the sea, accompanied by a great many peculiar shrubs 
and small trees, a number of which inhabit only this region. 
The characteristic maguey (Agave) is abundant, and at the 
time of our visit very conspicuous with its tall panicles of bright 
yellow flowers, which dotted the landscape in showy masses. 
The immediate vicinity of Santiago and especially the unculti- 
vated region between the city and the sea to the south, includ- 
ing the hills which bound the beautiful harbor, were quite 
thoroughly explored and specimens were taken of most of the 
plants to be found there. As in most West Indian floras, the 
plants are very locally distributed; in many cases, small colonies 
consisting of only a few individuals could be found, but the 
number of species is large. As in other dry-region floras, many 
of the plants are spiny or prickly, making progress through 
the woodlands impossible without free use of the machete, and 
thus practically restricting exploration, except for special objects, 
to existing trails or wood roads. One of these spiny shrubs 
(Anthacanthus), about three feet high, was profusely covered 
with fine purple flowers and would be fine for cultivation, but 
we could obtain no ripe seeds during our visit. In this dry 
region, ferns and mosses were very rare, but one beautiful little 
fern inhabits crevices of the coastal rocks east of El Morro. 
Through the kind codperation of Mr. Jennings $. Cox, man- 
ager of the Spanish American Iron Company, we were enabled 
to study the vegetation in the vicinity of Daiquiri, one of the 
