120 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



Cayaponia podantha, Cogn. in D.C. Monog. Phanerog., iii, 753. 



Pilcoma3^o River (1027 and 150t). 



A vine climbino: over grasses and shrubs for several metres, both 

 monoecious and dioecious, in wet, marshy grounds. The yellow 

 flower is quite pretty, the corolla being about 2 cm. high and 3 cm. 

 in diameter when open, the outer portion of the lobes green, pointed, 

 nerved and hairy, while the inner lining is white with a broad 

 border extending beyond the outer part and glandular hairy. Fruit 

 1-celled, oval, about 2J cm. long, with a thin, watery, white pulp ; 

 seeds several, large, flattish, in the centre of the pod. Leaves 

 rough, deeply 3-lobed and 3-nerved, with spinous teeth on the 

 margins, 5-*7 cm. long and about as broad, the lobes obtuse, apicu- 

 late or aristate. No. 1507 has small lateral lobes or is simply angu- 

 late. 



Lagenaria vulgaris, Ser., Mem. Soc. Phys. G-eneve, iii, 25, t. 2. 



Asuncion (1588). January-May. 



The form of the common gourd, the fruit of which serves in 

 Paraguay as a vessel for drinking Yerba or " Paraguay tea," the 

 national beverage. It is both cultivated and runs wild on the farms 

 around Asuncion. The gourd or " mate," as it is popularly called, 

 is ovoid, 6 or 8 inches in length, with a short neck. When young, 

 it is bound with twine, and made to grow in various fantastic 

 shapes. When ripe, the outer shell is carved with various orna- 

 mental figures, blackened with soot, often rimmed with silver, and 

 used as a drinking-cup for the favorite beverage. The powdered or 

 broken tea is crowded into the gourd, boiling-hot water is poured 

 upon it, and the beverage is sucked through the ''homhilla,^^ a long 

 tin or silver tube, which has a perforated bulb at the base. 



BEGONIACE^. 

 Begonia semperflorens, Link and Otto, Ic. Rar., t. 9. 



Asuncion (145). November-December. 



The Begonias are numerous in Paraguay, but this is the only 

 species that I attempted to collect, as they are very succulent and 

 exceedingly difficult to dry. This has a reddish fleshy stem, 3-9 

 dm. in height, common on the borders of thickets and along moist 

 sandy roads. Flowers small, white, with a ruddy tinge, in terminal 



