497 



learned editors of the Flora of Peru had even 

 described it under another name, that of acun- 

 na. In the same manner as the rhododendrons 

 of Lapland, Caucasus, and the Alps # differ 

 from each other, the two species of befaria we 

 brought from the Silla-f- are also specifically 

 different from that of Santa Fe and Bogota ^. 

 Near the equator the rhododendrons of the 

 Andes § cover the mountains as far as the high- 

 est paramos, at sixteen and seventeen hundred 

 toises of elevation. Advancing toward the 

 north, on the Silla de Caraccas we find them 

 much lower, a little below one thousand toises. 

 The befaria recently discovered in Florida, in 

 the latitude of 30°, grows even on hills of small 

 elevation. Thus in a space of six hundred 

 leagues in latitude, these shrubs descend toward 

 the plains in proportion as their distance from 

 the equator augments. The rhododendron of 

 Lapland grows also at eight or nine hundred 

 toises lower than the rhododendron of the Alps 



* Rhododendrum laponicum, r. caucasicum, r. ferrugine- 

 um, and r. hirsutum. 



t Befaria glauca, b. ledifolia. See our Equinoctial Plants, 

 vol. ii, p. 118—126, plate 117 — 121, which contain almost 

 a complete monography of the genus befaria, which ought to 

 be called bejaria. 



X Befaria aestuans, and b. resinosa. 



§ Particularly b. aestuans of Mutis, and two new species 

 of the southern hemisphere, which we have described under 

 the names of b. coarctata, and b. grandiflora. 

 VOL. III. 2 K 



