is ie Ria ae te eA ara AAT eh PON IT lage as eet 
ag Ay ee si f i aT a a 
esi P f a Y su re aie 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF QUITO. 653 
Cordilleras, including their synclinal sides, is singularly barren. 
; he birch-grove of Banos and the cinchona wood of Loja furnish 
; the nearest approach to a forest. Herbaceous vegetation pre- 
dominates over the arboreal. The “plain,” or bottom of the 
Valley, is generally covered with vast quantities of volcanic ashes, 
mud and trachyte, with little to relieve the dreary landscape but 
hedges of agave, cactus and heliotrope. The neighborhood of 
Quitois the most verdant part of the whole basin. The paramos are 
treeless, rolling steppes on the shoulders of the mountains, having 
an average elevation of twelve thousand feet, and overgrown with 
paja, a species of Stipa. High up, reaching even to the snow-limit, 
is the peculiar shrub chuquiragua, while the gulleys are sprinkled 
with rigid tufts of Valeriana, Viola and Geranium. The last zone 
of vegetation consists chiefly of yellow-flowering Composite, the 
ruling order throughout the Valley. Last of all the trees is the 
Polylepis, reaching the altitude of nearly fourteen thousand feet. 
The most common tree in the Valley is the “ Aliso” (Betula acu- 
minata) ; and the most abundant moss is the Tayloria erythrodonta. 
Flowers are found in Quito all the year round, but the most favor- 
able months are December and May. Yellow and blue are the 
predominating colors. The higher the altitude the brighter the 
hues of any given species. Thus, the Gentiana sedifolia is a 
a small, light blue flower in the lowlands, but on the Assuay it has 
OFS Pearce See a 2i re Geter cone arcane: Cee) et cae See Ye cee ere rege Sh ah 
(5)The large proportion of flowers of intense hues. ( 
deficiency of spiny and stinging species. 
To this I may add what is characteristic of insulated table- 
lands as well as oceanic islands, the remarkable absence of large 
groups of plants; in other words, the great ordinal and generic 
*Tae s. Boussingaultii occurs on Chimbor2zo at the height of sixteen thousand feet. 
