Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

2 5 o NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
stinging herb with large
white flowers of the order
Loaseae.
The Orchideae must not be forgotten : they
were very numerous and in fine state, especially
two large-flowered Odontoglossa, whose liana-like
peduncles depended almost to the ground. There
were also some Oncidia and Epidendra, and many
curious things whose affinities I did not recognise,
and which I have not yet examined.
From Llalla I dispatched my men to the
adjacent paramos on that side of Azuay, with
instructions to bring me everything they found in
flower. They returned bringing a good many
alpines, including some pretty Senecios not elsewhere
seen, a red-flowered caespitose Werneria, a
small Crucifera, an Alstrcemeria, a Gnaphalium,
but especially a beautiful Gentiana, allied to G.
cernua, and instead of having only one or two
pendulous flowers, as in that species, bearing a
profusion of erect pyriform red flowers.
[In a letter to Sir William Hooker from Ambato
(Oct. 10, 1859), the following remark on the
vegetation of the two slopes
of the Andes is of
much interest :
" As regards the general vegetation, the Amazon
side of the Andes is incomparably richer than the
Pacific side. In the former a perpetual spring
reigns sun and rain divide each day, rain predominating
in what is called winter and sun in
summer ; but in the latter the ground gets burnt
up with seven months of dry weather, and soaked
with five months of continual rain. You will
therefore be prepared to hear that in my late