78 Flants Collected in Paraguay. 



beams of this wood still standing, which are at least 250 years of 

 age. The wood is so heavy that it sinks in water like lead, and it 

 is almost impossible to cut it with a knife. In an attempt to bore 

 it with a common gimblet, I twisted the handle off before I had 

 penetrated the wood half an inch. The tree is stocky, somewhat 

 resembling the English elm in appearance, with a rough, shaggy, 

 grayish bark. The wood is ground up in Paraguay and used for 

 tanning purposes. The samaras are of a beautiful glossy red color. 

 The foliage is usually covered with gray usnea-like lichens, the 

 branches thick and bearing strong spines, so that it cannot be 

 regarded as a very handsome tree, although invaluable in those 

 regions as timber. 



LEGUMINOS^. 

 Crotalaria anagyroides, H. B. K., Nov. Gen. vi, 404. 



G-ran Chaco (375). January. 



Fruticose, 3-6 dm. high. Stems branched, striate, fuscous-pubes- 

 cent. Leaves ternate, on petioles 3-10 cm. long ; leaflets obovate 

 or elliptical, entire, pubescent, varying greatly in size, from 2 to 8 

 cm. long, and 6 mm. to 2^ cm. wide. Flowers yellow, in terminal 

 racemes. Pods pubescent, 2-2^ cm. long. 



Crotalaria incana, L., Sp. PL, 716. 



Asuncion (225); Pilcomayo River (1093). December-April. 



JHedicago denticulata, Willd., Sp. PL, iii, 1414. 

 Buenos Aires (1). October. 



Indigofera Anil, L., Mant., 272. 



Asuncion (205). November-December. 



This well-known plant of the East Indies was formerly cultivated 

 largely in Paraguay for the manufacture of indigo, and is still used 

 to some extent for that purpose. It has become quite extensively 

 naturalized in the country. 



Indigofera gracilis, Bong, in Ann. Nat. Hist., iii, 431. 



Caballero (407). January. ^ Balansa 1568. 



This species differs from the preceding in having simple linear 

 leaves, few and scattered, 3-6 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide. The flowers 

 are purple, in long terminal spikes. A slender plant 3-5 dm. in 



