156 



Notes of a Visit to Quito, 



tions and producing large greenish brown flowers on a scape of three 

 feet in height. The singular Ophioglossum palmatum, already 

 known from having been received from various parts of the globe, 

 is also found here growing on trees, but it is by no means common. 



Travelling to Antisana, whose broad cone covered with perpetual 

 snow is plainly visible from Quito, I crossed the well cultivated 

 valley of Chillo to the farm of El Isco, which is situated at an ele- 

 vation of 11,400 feet ; here the cultivation of barley and potatoes is 

 carried on with success ; the plants which I observed there were 

 Onoseris eriocephala, Senecio pimpinellifolius, and Antisana, Culci- 

 tium rosmarinifolium, Erigeron campanulatum, Liabum acaule, 

 and in the clefts of rocks overhangmg the farm-house Stenomesson 

 Hartwegii, producing its scarlet pendulous flowers on a scape of 

 18 inches in height. I may here observe that bulbous plants are 

 by no means common in the Andes, for besides the last mentioned 

 I only found two other species on old walls in Quito, where they 

 have been apparently planted, and Phcedranassa obtusa, on the 

 banks of the Guallabamba and in the valley of San Antonio. 



Following the gradual ascent from El Isco, I arrived at the 

 farm-house of Antisana, which is situated in a grassy plain at an 

 elevation of 13,434 feet, and within four miles of the snow-line. 

 This ground being extremely rich in Alpine plants, furnished me 

 with Gentiana diffusa, and rupicola, Ranunculus nubigenus,prcemov- 

 sus, and sibbaldioides,Castilleja nubigena. Euphrasia stricta, Liabum 

 erigeroides, Boivlesia acutangula, Werneria densa, Aster rupestris, 

 Culcitium ascendens, and hyoseridis, Eryngium humile, Valeriana 

 plantaginea, Baccharis humifusa, thyoides, and alpina, Ribesfrigi- 

 dum, and two species of Vrtica, together with Chuquiraga lanci- 

 folia, with showy heads of yellow flowers, which is the only shrub 

 that supplies the herdsmen of the estate with fuel. On the eastern 

 slope of Antisana, near the swampy outlet of the Lake of Mica, 

 I observed Gentiana limoselloides, Plantago nivalis, Vaccinunn 

 empetrifolium, and penceoides, Lysipoma montioides, Liabum erige- 



