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276
NOTES OF A BOTANIST
Quitonian Andes there is a great burst of blossom at the commencement
of the dry season, that is, towards the end of : May
and another of less extent after the rains of the autumnal equinox ;
so that, as my visit fell between those two epochs, many of the
trees were in the same unsatisfactory state as the Hill Bark already
mentioned, and others had not yet begun to flower. Besides, I
should hardly, under any circumstances, have been at the trouble
of cutting down a large tree for the sake of only two or three
specimens ; and, after we began to prepare the Bark plants, the
Indians could hardly be spared for any other service.
In proceeding to give a classified list of the plants collected
and observed, I shall generally limit myself to indicating their
natural order. In order that my attention might not be called
away from the main object of the enterprise, I collected very few
(often unique) specimens of each . . . plant. The general character
of the vegetation may, however, be sketched very intelligibly
with very little reference to species.
[The following account of the vegetation of the
Red Bark forests has been reduced by the omission
of all passages not directly bearing on the subject,
or dealing only with botanical details. It is, how-
ever, so full of information on points of geographical
distribution and of examples of unusual plant-
structure, and also contains so many short descriptions
of strange or beautiful flowers still unknown
to our horticulturists, as to make it both interesting
and instructive to all who study or appreciate the
beauty and variety of the vegetation of tropical
regions.
printed entire.]
It is therefore, with these exceptions,
SKETCH OF THE VEGETATION OF THE RED BARK
FORESTS OF CHIMBORAZO (alt. 2000 to 5000 feet)
Graminece, 4. 1 A good many species of this order were
observed, but, as is mostly the case in the dry season, nearly all
partially dried up and out of flower ; besides that, even in the
1 The number affixed to most of the orders indicates how many species of
that order I gathered in a perfect state.