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i82 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
them only one European genus (Alnus). Amongst
the trees hitherto gathered are an Erythrina, a
Pithecolobium, three Polygaleae (Monninse), a hexandrous
Myrtus, a Proteacea (Roupala, sp. n.), a
Verbenacea,
thing nearly
a Petiveriacea, a
allied),
etc. etc.
Crateegus (or some-
A curious tree on
wooded hills, at 6000 to 9000 feet, most resembles
Polemoniacese in its characters, but has nothing ol
the habit of that order. I believe most of the trees
will be undescribed. A Rutaceous shrub wr ith
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 Ericese, 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,
at a small hamlet
towards Chimborazo. I slept
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