. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. Cordillera Azul between Tingo Maria and Pucallpa. Peru. for our Amazonian forests inventory project, we set out on Sunday for Huanuco. Located in a ratfier dry part of tfie Upper Valley of the Huallaga River, about 6,500 feet above sea level, Huanuco is tfie departmental capital (a department is more or less equivalent to a state) and dates back to colonial times, Tfie road between Tingo Maria and Huanuco, formerly a narrow single lane ttiat was often impassable in tfie wet season, fias recently been widened, and, tfiough unpaved, has an all-weather gravel
. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. Cordillera Azul between Tingo Maria and Pucallpa. Peru. for our Amazonian forests inventory project, we set out on Sunday for Huanuco. Located in a ratfier dry part of tfie Upper Valley of the Huallaga River, about 6,500 feet above sea level, Huanuco is tfie departmental capital (a department is more or less equivalent to a state) and dates back to colonial times, Tfie road between Tingo Maria and Huanuco, formerly a narrow single lane ttiat was often impassable in tfie wet season, fias recently been widened, and, tfiough unpaved, has an all-weather gravel surface. When Ruiz and Pavon traveled here two centuries ago there was only a trail which they traveled by mule train. Where the going was especially steep and slick they were forced to dismount and travel on foot. We stayed overnight in Huanuco and enjoyed breakfast in its ideal morning temperature before making the return trip on Monday, over the same road. The 6,500-foot elevation here gives night temperatures that are cool but not chilly, while the days are warm and dry. The highway on leaving Huanuco leads down the Huallaga River for a way, then climbs to the 9,100-foot-high Carpish Pass, dropping on the other side to eventually enter the Middle Valley of the Huallaga River, where it passes through Tingo Maria, which sits at about 2,000 feet. At about 9,000 feet we stopped and entered the forest on foot. The trees here are small though mature, the branches covered with heavy growths of mosses, lichens, and numerous larger epiphytes. The undergrowth is a nearly impenetrable tangle of shrubs, vines, and hardy species of bamboo grass {Chusquea sp,). We followed paths already cut into the dense undergrowth, but to reach a plant in bloom only a few yards off the path we had to clear every foot of the way with machetes. We were rewarded with an important "find," a blue-flowered shrub with only one cluster of flowers FIELD MUSEUM BULLETIN 13. Please note that these ima
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