J 74 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



PLANTS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA. 

 By William Edward Nicholson. 



*THE great interest that I recently found in an 

 A excursion in the Sierra Nevada, and the fact 

 that the region is but little visited by the British 

 botanist, has induced me to record a few botanical 

 notes made while visiting this mountain range, 

 though from the short time at my disposal, and the 

 fact that my energies were partially devoted to 

 entomology, they are not so complete as I could 

 have wished. 



One difficulty for a naturalist in this part of 

 Spain is the absence of any accommodation, that 

 may be depended upon, at any high elevation. It 

 was, therefore, after some hesitation, and relying 

 on the vague information that there was a house 

 in connection with some mining operations in the 

 mountains, about eight hours walk from Granada, 

 where accommodation might sometimes be had, 

 that I started with a friend, early in the morning of 

 June 6th last, from the Alhambra Hill, above 

 Granada. The road to the mountains lies past the 

 cemetery, as far as which there is a road, when a 

 path should be taken to the left, which leads over 

 dry reddish hillsides, deeply furrowed by the 

 autumnal torrents, and past fields of corn on the 

 lower slopes bordered with agaves and opuntias, to 

 the village of Senes. 



Among the more interesting plants noticed on 

 these dry hillsides were the silvery bushes of 

 Rctama sphcerocarpa, Bss., so terribly mutilated by 

 the ravages of a beetle (Gonioctena variabilis) that 

 it was difficult to find a bush in flower; Armeria 

 allioides, Bss., with its white, almost globular, flower- 

 heads, Phlomis iychnitis, L., and P. purpurea, L., 

 two very conspicuous labiates with an almost 

 shrubby stem, which disputed some of the driest 

 ground with Marrubium hispanicum, L., and two 

 handsome yellow composites, Aster iscus spinosus, 

 Godr., and Buphthahnum salicifolium, L. On the 

 lower ground was a formidable array of thistle-like 

 plants, and amongst them a variegated sow-thistle, 

 Seolymus hispanicus, L. Here also the pale lemon- 

 coloured flowers of Andryala integrifolia, L., were 

 very conspicuous, and Scabiosa stellata, L., with its 

 curious spreading involucels also occurred. 



From the village of Senes there is a rough 

 carriage road bordered in places with Elccagnus 

 augustifolius, L., from which a pleasant scent is 

 wafted. This road, on reaching the village of 

 Penillos, about three-quarters of an hour distant, 

 degenerates into a mule track, whick keeps along 

 the flank of the hills on the right bank of the 

 River Xenil, until the small town of Huejar is 

 reached. The vegetation as far as Huejar, and for 

 some way beyond, does not vary very much, but 



on the hillsides just before reaching the town, 

 Digitalis obscura, L., is rather abundant. It is not 

 until about an hour's walk beyond Huejar that you 

 begin to ascend the mountains in earnest ; when, 

 after crossing the Xenil to the left bank, where 

 two valleys meet, the valley which opens to the 

 right is pursued by a winding path to La Estrella 

 Mine. In the lower part of this valley Gymno- 

 gramma leptophylla, Desv., is fairly common in 

 damp places, especially where there is a slight 

 accumulation of humus under the rocks. It was 

 in great perfection at the time of our visit and 

 covered with ripe sori. The mountain sides were 

 now much greener than they were below, and small 

 rivulets stole down from time to time, which 

 nourished aluxuriant vegetationof A/Vh^/ja, Heracleum 

 and Myrrhis odorata, Scop. It was in this district 

 that we came upon a beautiful little fumitory, 

 Sarcocapnos cnneaphylla, Da, which grew in the 

 fissures of a vertical or almost overhanging rock. 

 Further up, at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, the 

 most conspicuous plant was Adenocarpus decoriicans t 

 Bss., a leguminiferous shrub or small tree with 

 pale-coloured bark peeling off in strips, showy 

 terminal racemes of golden-yellow flowers and a 

 curious pod covered with purple villae, and which 

 was growing with our common hawthorn of the 

 oxyacanthoides form. Slightly higher still, Smyrnium 

 perfoliatum, L., conspicuous from its yellowish 

 upper leaves, grew among the grass, and the 

 swampy ground, which now became more frequent, 

 was filled with mosses, among which Bartramia 

 caharea, B. and S., and Hypnum crista-castrensis, L., 

 predominated, and appeared to quite replace the 

 species of Sphagnum which one would expect to 

 meet with in similar situations in England. No 

 trace of any species of Sphagnum was, however, 

 noticed in the Sierra Nevada. All the mosses, 

 that I have at present identified, are British species, 

 in great contrast to the higher plants. The 

 commonest species on the rocks were Heduigia 

 ciliata, Dicks., and Leucodon sciuroides, L., the latter 

 fruiting very freely. 



At the house itself a Belgian gentleman, M. Louis 

 de Pelsmaeker, the lessee of the mine, had, most 

 fortunately for us, arrived that very day, and at 

 some inconvenience to himself, as the greater part 

 of the house had been destroyed by storms during 

 the winter, he entertained us hospitably for the 

 next three days. The day after our arrival we 

 made an early start, with a miner off duty as a 

 guide, and, following the path leading to the upper 

 mines, we soon passed the last straggler of the 

 scattered evergreen oaks, which are the cnly trees 



