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North of the Sierra there is a repetition of pine and oak-clad 
hills and wooded arroyos extending nearly to the coast at Esper- 
anza. Here we find a mangrove littoral flora, with low thickets, 
which contain some species of shrubs and small trees not observed 
on the southern coast, among them Catesbaea spinosa, one of the 
most elegant low trees, bearing long, drooping, whitish flowers, 
which are succeeded by snow-white fruits the size and shape of 
small hen eggs; it was laden with fruit and we observed it with 
much interest and admiration. 
Returning to Pinar del Rio on September 17, a study of a low 
oak chaparral was made south of Vifiales, and some species not 
elsewhere observed were collected. We travelled to Havana on 
Fic. 35. The coastal palm, Thrinax parviflora, mouth of Bay of Mariel. 
the afternoon of September 18. The remainder of our time was 
devoted to a study of the coastal hills and low cliffs about the 
bay of Mariel, some twenty miles west of Havana. A sail-boat 
was used, and a comprehensive view of the flora was obtained. 
Many of the species are the same as those of the coast nearer 
Havana, but many are different. We were especially pleased to 
find the rare skullcap, Scutellaria havanensis, abundant on shaded 
limestone rocks, its blue-purple flowers very pretty and delicate. 
The bushy cactus, Harrisia eriophora, is scattered through the 
