MR. BUNBFRT OJf THE BOTAKY OF TEIfEEIFFE. 31 



It exemplifies in a striking manner the two different ways in 

 which the botany of a country may be looked at. If we consider 

 only the number of species, the Ericacece form but an insignificant 

 part of the vegetation of the islands in question ; and so a botanist 

 judging from dried collections woidd consider them; whereas, 

 from the extraordinary multiplication of one or two species, they 

 form, in another point of view, a most important element in the 

 vegetation. 



The well-marked succession of different zones of vegetation, as 

 one ascends from Orotava towards the Peak, is very interesting, 

 although its effect must have been more striking before the de- 

 struction of the great trees. Starting from amidst the gardens of 

 the coast, where the Banana, the Date Palm, the Orange, and the 

 Coffee flourish in luxuriant beauty, we ascend for more than 2000 

 leet througli cultivated grounds, the aspect of which becomes pro- 

 gressively more and more like tliat of Middle Europe. One can 

 hardly define the limit between the zone of tropical, and that of 

 European culture ; the one seems to melt gradually into the other, 

 Wlieat is grown from tlie coast up to the beginning of the Heath 

 zone, but the difference of climate is well shown by its state of for- 

 wardness ; at the time of my visit it was in full ear, and approach- 

 ing to ripeness in the valley, whereas at the upper limit of its 

 zone it was only peeping above the ground. At this higher level. 

 Lupins' are the principal crop. The commencement of the woody 

 zone is marked by the Tree Heath clothing all the waste and stony 

 ground between the fields. Presently we come to the very exten- 

 sive zone of shrubbery composed of this Heath {Erica arhorea)^ 

 together with tlie Myrica Eaya, Bex Canariensis, and Hypericmi 

 grandifolium. This shrubbery here seems to represent hoih the 

 woody zones, — that of the Laurels and that of the Pine ; for on 

 this part of the mountain range the woods have been all cut doT;\Ti, 

 and a solitary Pine, liigh up in the savage ravine on the left of our 

 path, is the only tree to be seen in the whole ascent after we have 

 left the cultivated fruit-trees. The case is nearly tlie same in 

 ascending by the other route, from the Tigayga and Icod el Alto ; 

 only here, there still remain a few large Viriaticos around the fine 

 spring called Fuente de Pedro. 



To the region of the Heath succeeds, as we ascend, that of the 

 Codeso del Pico, Adenocarpm frankenioides, DC. The limit of thia 

 is particularly well-marked. For a little space it is intermixed 

 ^th scattered and stunted bushes of the Heath, but this soon 

 thins out and disappears, and for miles the whole slope is covered 



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