The flora of a country which, though within the tropics, is at an elevation of nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea, must necessarily be meagre, and the few plants are lowly and inconspicuous. I noticed the following in the immediate vicinity of Puno. The only tree was one of stunted growth, with a pretty pink and white flower, and dark-green leaves, almost white underneath, called "oliva silvestre" by the Spaniards, and _ccolli_ in Quichua (_Buddlea coriacea_); and of these there were not more than a dozen, sheltered behind walls. By far the greater number of plants are _Compositæ_: of these I observed three species of _Tagetes_--one with a small yellow flower; another very sweet, called by the Indians _huaccatay_ and _chicchipa_, and used to flavour their chupes; and a large shrubby marygold, called _sunchu_;[134] also the common sow-thistle, a _Hieracium_, and the _tola_ and _ccanlli_ before mentioned, used for fuel. I found two Verbenas and a Solanum, all with purple flowers; a clover, a creeping cucurbitaceous plant, two Cacti, a large dock, three Geraniums, all with pink flowers; three Crucifers, very small herbs, one with a white flower, one with a yellow flower, and the third the common shepherd's-purse; a Gilium with a minute white flower, a small legume with tomentose leaves, a pretty little creeping Adoxa, a Statice, a wild Chenopodium, a Veronica, a minute Stellaria, a Rhinanthus, a mallow, a plantago, and three species of wild Oxalis, two very minute with white flowers, and one with a yellow flower. There were also two ferns, one a very beautiful Gymnogramma with silvery fronds; nine grasses, the most abundant of which was the coarse _Stipa ychu_; and a few mosses. On the shores of lake Titicaca I saw rushes in great quantities, a Mimulus, a Ranunculus, a Rumex, and three grasses. These plants, though lowly and unpretending, are in sufficient abundance to cover the country with verdure and pretty wild flowers, and brighten those parts which are not cultivated. The cultivation consists of quinoa, cañahua (both _Chenopodia_), barley, potatos, ocas (_Oxalis tuberosa_), and wheat in very small quantities, which does not ripen. Close to Puno, on the south, are the famous silver-bearing mountains of Cancharani and Laycaycota, to which Puno owes her existence: and to the discovery and working of the Laycaycota mine in the middle of the seventeenth century a very curious history is attached; which is always talked of by the people of Puno as one of the principal events in the annals of their city.