NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



To the botanist, the most interesting features in the 



Andean flora are supplied by the great family of 



Composites. To this belong nearly one-fourth of all 



the plants collected by me, and nearly one-third of 



those found in the higher Alpine region ; and, as far 



as available materials allow me to judge, I believe 



these to be about the true proportions for the higher 



parts of the Andean chain. It is further remarkable 



that of the thirteen tribes into which the 780 genera 



and 10,000 species of this family have been divided, 



all but the two smallest tribes — CalendulacecB and 



Arctotidece — are represented in the Andes. To the 



European botanist, the most interesting group is that 



of the MutisiacecB, which is especially characteristic of 



the South American flora. Of 420 known species 



belonging to this tribe, fully 350 are exclusively 



American, the remainder being distributed through 



Australasia, and from South Africa to Southern Asia. 



They exhibit many unfamiliar forms very unlike what 



we are used to find elsewhere in the world. One of 



the first plants which I gathered was a tall, straggling 



climber with pinnate leaves ending in a tendril. I 



naturally thought of the vetch tribe, but I observed 



that the leaves were without stipules, and that the 



leaflets were not articulated to the midrib. Great, 



however, was my surprise when, on finding a flowering 



specimen, it revealed itself as a composite belonging 



to the genus Mutisia. 



Next to the Composites, the grasses are of all the 

 natural orders the most largely represented in the 

 Andean flora, but with the difference that nearly all 

 belong to genera common to the mountain regions of 



