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2 8o NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
same genus, extends up the slopes of the mountains to 8000 feet,
and has its lower limit above that of the Cinchona ; but as I have
never seen its flowers, and as the Cecropias are apparently confined
to the hot and warm regions, I suppose it may be generically
distinct.
Euphorbiacece, 3.
The species gathered comprise an Acalypha,
a Phyllanthus, and a small tree of unknown genus. . . .
Callitrichacece.
A Callitriche, in pools by the Rio San Antonio.
Monimiacea. Three species of Citrosma are frequent.
Menispermacece. A woody twiner of this order was noted,
probably an Abuta, but without flower or fruit.
Ciicurbitacea, 8. Plants of this family are abundant, and,
besides the eight species gathered, some others were seen in a
barren state. I gathered two Anguriae, with trifoliolate leaves,
and the characteristic scarlet flowers of the genus. One plant,
apparently of this order, puzzled me much, for the woody stems,
partly twining and partly climbing by means of radicles, and no
thicker than packthread, bore a bunch of slender flowers (calyx
scarlet, corolla yellow) near the base but ; though I pulled down
some stems of enormous length,
I could see no traces of leaves
on them. At length I succeeded in getting down an entire
stem, 40 feet long (by no means one of the longest), which had
a couple of trifoliate leaves near the apex. . . .
Begoniacece, 4. Two climbing and two terrestrial species.
Of the latter, one is a large coarse plant 10 feet high, with leaves
I have gathered the
resembling those of Heracleum giganteum.
same, or a very similar species, on .the eastern side of the
Cordillera. One of the is climbing species very ornamental, from
its long pinnate shoots bearing a profusion of roseate flowers and
generally purplish leaves. This genus, entirely absent from the
Amazonian plain, though it has one representative in that of
Guayaquil, abounds on the woody slope of the Andes, especially
in the warm and temperate regions.
Papavacece. Two species of Carica were seen, both slender
simple arbuscles of 5 to 6 feet, the one by the Chasuan, the
other by the San Antonio. The leaves of the former are boiled
and eaten by the inhabitants under the name of " col del monte "
(wood cabbage).
. . .
of Bonara.
Flaconrtiacece, i. A small tree, probably a species
Samydea. A Casearia, which seems to be C. Sylvestris, grows
in some abundance, but the fruits were open and empty. This
is the highest point at which I have seen a species of Casearia,
a genus abundant in the plains, especially in woods of secondary
growth.
Passiflorece, 2. Both species of Passiflora ; the one a woody
twiner (frequently found on the Red Bark tree), with entire leaves,
smallish green flowers, and globose berries the size of a cherry ;