April 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE INDIGENOUS VEGETATION OP NORTHERN PERU. 405 



daticm had barely reached, but had sufficed to cause the root to shoot 

 forth its stems, which spread on the ground, branching dichotomously, 

 to the distance of a yard on all sides. The roundish leaves, clad with 

 viscid down, are lobed much in the same way as those of some gourds, 

 but the large sweet-smelling flowers are like those of a foxglove. 



I have never seen either leaves or flowers of the Yuca del monte ; 

 but, from the description given me of it, I should suppose it a Convol- 

 vulacea, allied to the sweet potatoes {Batatas), and the lanceolate leaves 

 point to the genus Aniseia. 



The arborescent vegetation of the desert, although perhaps really 

 more scanty than the herbaceous, is from its nature more conspicuous 

 wherever it exists. There are points from which not a single tree is visi- 

 ble all around the horizon, but they are rare ; generally the view takes 

 in a few widely-scattered trees growing in basin-shaped hollows or 

 towards the base of slopes, where at a certain depth there is permanent 

 moisture throughout the wide interval between the anos de aguas, at 

 which epochs the supply is renewed. Wells dug in such sites reach 

 water (too brackish for drinking) at various depths, the first deposit 

 often at only a few feet from the surface. The moisture derived 

 from the garuas, scanty as it is, no doubt aids in keeping the 

 desert plants alive ; and the air is never so excessively dry as might 

 be supposed, but, on the contrary, sometimes approaches complete 

 saturation. The trees of the desert are the Algarrobo (Prosopis Tiorrida), 

 the Vichaya (Capparis crotonoides) , the Zapote de perro (Colicodendron 

 scabridum ?), and an Apocynea with numerous slender branches, bright 

 green lanceolate acuminate leaves, axillary clusters of small white 

 flowers, and fruits, consisting of small twin drupaceous follicles, which 

 are slender, curved, and coated with a thin white flesh. The Capparis 

 and the Apocynea, although they grow to be trees infavourable situations, 

 as in valleys near the sea, are mere shrubs on the desert ; and the Prosopis 

 and Colicodendron are low trees of very scraggy growth, their branches 

 all bent one way by the prevailing wind, and the trunk itself often semi- 

 prostrate. 



Far away over the desert a tall-branched Cactus begins to be met 

 with ; the same species abounds on the desert-coast of Ecuador. Far- 

 ther still, near the roots of the Cordillera, the vegetation becomes 

 gradually more dense and varied, comprising several other kinds of trees, 

 and amongst them most of those about to be mentioned as denizens of 

 the valleys. 



When the traveller across the despoblado comes suddenly on one of 

 the valleys, he passes at once from a desert to a garden, whose charms 

 are enhanced by their unexpectedness. Standing on the cliff that over- 

 looks the Chira, about Amotape, he sees at his feet a broad valley filled 

 with perpetual verdure, the great mass of which is composed of the pale, 

 green foliage of the algarrobo ; but the course of the river that winds 

 through it is marked (even where the river itself is not seen) bylines or 



