i82 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
them only one European genus (Alnus). Amongst 
the trees hitherto gathered are an Erythrina, a 
Pithecolobium, three Polygaleae (Monninae), a hex- 
androus Myrtus, a Proteacea (Roupala, sp. n.), a 
Verbenacea, a Petiveriacea, a Crataegus (or some- 
thing nearly allied), etc. etc. A curious tree on 
wooded hills, at 6000 to 9000 feet, most resembles 
Polemoniaceae in its characters, but has nothing of 
the habit of that order. I believe most of the trees 
will be undescribed. A Rutaceous shrub with 
long sarmentose pinnate branches, called Shangshi, 
has the peculiarity that the petals, at first smaller 
than the sepals, persist and become three times 
larger, being at the time so much distended by a 
dark purple fluid — the universal substitute for ink 
at Banos— as to simulate the valves of a berried 
capsule. It is so abundant that it must surely 
have been previously gathered, yet I can find no 
description of it. Another sarmentose shrub, 
growing some 15 feet high, is a species of Cremo- 
lobus, which seems to me to have as good a 
claim to be considered a Capparid as a Crucifer. 
On mossy declivities about the base of Tunguragua 
are several Ericeae, Vacciniaceae, and small-flowered 
Orchideae. 
A fortnight ago I went to explore a wooded hill 
called Guayra-pata [i.e. Windy Height) about 9000 
feet high, a few hours farther up the Pastasa, 
towards Chimborazo. I slept at a small hamlet 
called Cotalo, 8000 feet high and terribly cold, 
because situated on a plateau, exposed directly to 
the winds that blow up the valley. At Cotalo 
there is a small lake choked with weeds of the 
same genera as I might have found in an English 
