Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

XX THE FORESTS OF ALAUSI
took me three. What is called the " road " consists
of I know not how many deep ruts, crossing and
anastomosing in a very bewildering way, and
so muddy and slippery that my horse preferred
stumbling along among the hassocks of paja blanca
(white grass) a species of Stipa with feather-like
silvery panicles tinged with rose which forms the
mass of the vegetation on the paramo. This grass
affords excellent thatch ; it is also extensively used
in packing, and along all the higher grounds it is
almost the only material for fuel. Between the
hassocks, especially where there are slight declivities,
there is an interesting sub-alpine vegetation a
dense grassy turf is enamelled with flowers, white,
yellow, red, and purple, which seem to spring direct
from the ground. Three daisy-like Werneria;, all
stemless and solitary, of which W. nubigcna with its
large white stars is the most conspicuous, grow-
along with a stemless Valeriana, a small Castilleja,
a Lupinus, a Cerastium, two species of Gentiana,
and two of Azorella. The caespitose Werneriae are
true alpines, and grow at 2000 feet above the
species just referred to. There are many little
lakes, frequently bordered by the swelling, glaucous,
sphagnum-like tufts of a Plantago, over which creep
the silvery threads of a minute Gnaphalium and an
equally minute white-flowered Gentiana. In such
situations grow also a small Ranunculus, bearing
generally a single sessile Hower and a peduncular
head of follicles, a Stachys, and several other herl>s
of humble growth. Heath- like tufts of Jlcdyoti*
ericoideS) often accompanied by a suffruticose
Valeriana of similar habit, and sometimes by a
Calceolaria, here and there diversify the landscape ;