THE TECHNOLOGIST. [April 1, 1865. 



410 THE INDIGENOUS VEGETATION OF 



affording of course little protection from sun and wind, and none at all 

 from the rain, which happily falls so very rarely. Along with it grow 

 a few other perennial grasses, chiefly species of Panicwm and Paspalum, 

 hesides the Grama dulce (Cynodon dactylon), originally brought from 

 Europe, but here so completely naturalised that if allowed to spread it 

 would exclude almost every other plant. It is valuable as an article of 

 fodder. A few annual grasses, chiefly species of Eragrostis, grow about 

 the outer margin of the vega. Of sedges also {Cyperus and Scirpus) 

 there are four or five species. 



Other herbaceous or suffruticose plants are, a tall Polygonum, the 

 handsome Typha Truxillensis (which is called Totorra or bulrush), the 

 Yerba blanca (Teleianthera peruviana), several species of Chenopodium, 

 including the strong smelling Paico (Ch. ambrosioides and multifidum) ; 

 a Cleome, a Portulaca, Scoparia dulcis, a Stemodium, and three or four 

 other Scrophulariacese ; a Melilotus, a Crotalaria, a pretty Indigo/era, 

 with numerous prostrate stems spreading every way from the root, and 

 pink flowers ; a Desmodlum, a sensitive-leaved Desmanthus, a Sunchus, 

 Ambrosia peruviana (called Altamisa), and a few other Compositse; a 

 Datura, allied to but very distinct from D. Stramonium, two species of 

 Physalis, Dictyocalyx Miersii, Hook. f. (exceedingly variable in the size 

 and shape of its leaves), and the ubiquitous Solatium nigrum ; Verbena 

 littoralis, two species of Lippia, Tiaridium indicum, a Heliophytum, three 

 Euphorbia?, a small Lythracea allied to Cuphea, and a few others. In 

 the river itself occasionally grows a Ifaias, in dense masses, like those of 

 Anacharis alsi7iastrum in English streams and ponds. 



Two lichens, Roccella tinctoria and a Ramalina, both known by the 

 name of Orchilla, grow in a sparing and rudimentary manner on the 

 trees. On the coast of St. Elena, in the isle of Puna, and in the Gala- 

 pagos, these lichens are so abuudant and luxuriant as to form an im- 

 portant article of commerce. 



Two mosses, both species of Bryum, are occasionally found on the 

 banks of the river Chira, and on the filtering ston°.s kept in houses, but 

 only in a barren state. 



I did not remain long enough in the country to witness the full 

 effect of the rains of 1864 on the desert. The first plant to spring up, 

 in the ravines leading down from the tablazo to the valley, and then on 

 the tablazo itself, were two delicate Euphorbia?, distinct from those of 

 the vega. A little later on they were followed by a fragile dichoto- 

 rnously -branched Scrophulariacea (which is common on the coast to 

 northward of Guayaquil) ; two viscid Nyctaginea? (species of Oxybaphus) 

 with pretty purple flowers ; and two or three grasses (one of them an 

 Aristida), but very sparingly. The Yuca de caballo (Martynia sp.) also 

 began to put forth its leaves, but the Yuca del monte had not, up to the 

 20th of April, shown itself above ground. I had seen far more wonder- 

 ful effects of the rains of 1862 at Chanduy, where a desert nearly as 

 bare at that of Piura became clad in a month's time with a beautiful 



