“ACCOUNT OF ANTUCO IN 
dure cover the hills. Our expeditions led 
to such considerable distances, and were 
accomplished, for the sake of saving time, 
with so much celerity, that the poor ani- 
mals were frequently much fatigued, and 
we were thus often compelled to exchange 
our mountain- -climbing, for visits to more 
distant, though ] 
laces. But 
these exertions, which never produced any 
painfully fatiguing results in such an atmo- 
sphere, were rewarded, besides the tempo- 
and present enjoyment, with the attain- 
ment of very choice collections. Most of the 
plantswhich we found are nondescripts, and 
their singular forms will prove as interest- 
ing to the systematic Botanist, as to the 
Botanical geographer, who is justified in 
drawing from them many new inferences as 
to the range of individual families. The 
most beautiful spot is the Pico de Pilque, 
in the lower part of the valley. The first 
portion of its side is hardly attained when 
you come to meadows, where the prevail- 
ing herbaceous plants exhibit the general 
appearance of alpine vegetation, combined 
with the large foliage and brilliant colours 
that characterize a tropical growth. e 
magnificent forms of the Orchidee, few 
of which are seen in northern Chili, were 
to me most attractive. -One, which the 
people of Antuco call Wood-Lily, (Azu- 
zena del Campo, Gavilea odoratissima, 
a considerable distance. In drier spots 
grows another species, of which the flow- 
ers are above two inches across, and the 
with a reticulation of green veins, and p 
have a strong smell of Vanilla ; whilst a 
third kind, with green flowers veined with 
black, possesses the odour of the common 
Garden Lack. Other Orchideous plants, 
: with magnificent golden-coloured blossoms, 
more or less perfumed, frequently but a 
Span high, but with very large foliage, 
: inhabit only the highest summits of the 
Andes. Many occur solely at the margin 
of the barren lava that borders the river in 
. the peculiar fibrous appen 
THE PERUVIAN ANDES. 301 
the low valley, and flourish on the very 
driest spots alone, which is quite contrary 
to the habit of their congeners in other 
parts of the world, and if they are less 
splendid than the species just described, 
they yet excel all the native plants of 
this same family.1 On ascending the still 
higher parts of the mountain, the number 
of unknown plants increases. In the same 
situations with the very beautiful myrtle- 
leaved Beech, (Fagus Dombey: of Mirbel,) 
grows the undescribed Beech of the upper 
Andes, with several kinds of Podocarpus, 
a second new species of which bears some 
resemblance to the broad-leaved Cypresses 
of North America. On the margins of the 
forest grow Hieracia, Gerania, and many 
sorts of Trefoil, Vetch, and Lathyrus, as 
if to recall the far distant scenes of our 
North-eastern native land, while the greater 
proximity of the singular continent of New 
Holland is indicated by individuals of the 
Protea family, and Leguminose with 
curiously formed fruit. The great affinity 
between this Flora and that of the extreme 
point of South America, appears in the 
presence of a white, woolly Senecio and 
some Gnaphalia ; while in the large-flow- 
ered Loranthus there exists a similarity to 
the singular Misodendrons, (which have no 
right to be placed in the same family, and 
are called by the Chilians, on account of 
at sur- 
rounds their seeds, Angel's Beard;) and 
finally, in the lofty climbing plant with 
woody stems, (Cornidia integerrima of 
Hooker,) which resembles the Viburnum, 
we recoznize the vicinity of the Tropical 
Flora of South America. Species of Ber- 
beris, from the berries of which the Indians 
repare an intoxicating driuk; Echites, 
with blue flowers, whose roots afford the 
| The Orchidee which I found on the Andes of An- 
in a periodical 
Chilens. Lips. 1833, p. 13, et. seq. Jare the follo sing. 
Chlorea speciosa, C. viridiflora, C. grandiflora, C. cam- 
pestris, C. — C. chrysantha, C. nudilabi 
C. decipiens, C. , C. incisa, all these are new 
species ; Gavilea . odoratissima and G. acu- 
Á— this is a new penus. Asarea a 
ilora; Habenaria pumila, and Pogonia tetra- 
kem n. sp 
