118 



Notes of a Visit to Mexico, 



shrub, or small tree, covered with delicate white flowers. In the 

 more sheltered situations, in the ravines near the town, Clematis 

 pubescens was in full flower. Oaks, which cover the greater part 

 of the mountains, were in great variety, but the acorns of the pre- 

 ceding year being all dead, I could procure neither seeds nor spe- 

 cimens. Pines were nowhere to be met with. 



On the 13th of April I arrived in Leon from Guanajuato, but 

 after two months' disappointment on the then parched up plains 

 and mountains, from which I often returned without having found 

 a single seed or specimen for the herbarium, I often longed for the 

 green woods on the declivity of Orizaba, where vegetation never 

 seems at rest. The only things worthy of notice from this station 

 were Ipomcea longifolia and Lcelia majalis; the latter species 

 I found at an elevation of about 8,000 feet, growing on oaks, 

 and producing such a profusion of large pink flowers in May, that 

 even the Mexicans find it attractive, and stick a few plants on the 

 Limes, {Citrus medico) growing before their houses. Of this I sent 

 an abundant supply of plants, but as it has resisted all attempts at 

 cultivation, I would recommend it to be kept in the driest part of 

 the stove, and to be liberally supplied with water during the 

 summer months only. In fields Lupinus Hartwegii was common ; 

 this seems to be quite stationary, having nowhere else been met 

 with. 



On the 17th of June I arrived at Lagos, where I found the same 

 barrenness during the dry season as at Leon ; and after a month's 

 fruitless wandering, I left, on the 13th of July, for Aguas Calientes. 

 Of the more interesting plants found near Lagos, I may mention 

 Milla hi flora, bearing from one to six of its star-like white flowers on 

 one scape ; Bessera elegans ( Caloprasum Geroltianum of SchiedeJ, 

 the bruised leaves of which, mixed with a little water, are used oc- 

 casionally for killing flies ; Zephyranthes sessilis ; Sprekelia 

 glauca; and Habranthus concolor; the three latter flowering be- 

 fore the leaves appear. 



