58 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Buddleia madagascariensis. — One of the most abundant and objectionable plants in 

 the island, and much used for hedging ; but it soon overruns acres of land and climbs over 

 the tallest trees. 



Physalis peruviana. — Very common at altitudes of 1000 to 2000 feet, and yielding 

 large quantities of fruit, which is collected and taken to market. 



Chenopodium murale. — An abundant weed. 



Rumex acetosella. — Common in meadows in the upper region. 



Ricinus communis. — The castor-oil plant is very common from an elevation of 50 up 

 to 1500 feet. 



Quercus robur. — The oak was introduced in 1749, and thrives well on the high land, 

 where, in the ravines and hollows, it gets sufficient shelter and depth of soil. It is abun- 

 dant and grows side by side with the banana, the Calla cetkiopica, and the bamboo ; the 

 latter, in some instances, may be seen shooting up through its branches and drooping over 

 its topmost foliage. An oak-tree growing in the grounds at Government House, in 1875, 

 measured twelve feet to the first branch and thirteen feet in circumference. Another 

 measured ten feet to the first branch and twelve feet in circumference, and both were fifty feet 

 high. The oak is one of the most thoroughly naturalised trees, bearing acorns abundantly. 



/'in us pinaster and Pinus sylvestris. — The former, Melliss states, is much more abun- 

 dant than the latter, being one of the commonest trees on the island. It grows freely, and 

 produces seed which springs up without care. In various parts there were, in 1875, 

 about two hundred acres thickly planted with this fir, which does not succeed, however, 

 below 1500 feet. There were many trees upwards of sixty feet high, with straight, un- 

 branched trunks, thirty or forty feet long, and ten feet in circumference. 



Such is the composition of the present vegetation of St Helena, whose former flora is 

 doomed to utter extinction, if some measures are not soon taken to preserve the meagre 

 remains. In the report referred to above, Mr Morris suggests that the forest vegetation 

 on the Central Ridge should be preserved and extended, if only for the sake of preventing 

 the springs from drying up. 



Origin of the Indigenous Vegetation of St Helena. 



The indigenous plants of St Helena fall naturally into two groups or elements, ancient 

 and modern ; the former consisting entirely of endemic forms, though not comprising all the 

 species which are apparently endemic in the island ; and the latter, all those species 

 enumerated on p. 55 as probably indigenous, together with such endemic species as 

 Mesembryanthemum cryptanthum, Tripteris burchettii, Agrostis simidans, Demazeria 

 oblitera, and perhaps some others. These plants have not the peculiar insular stamp 

 characteristic of the plants which formerly constituted the bulk of the vegetation, and 

 most likely they did not reach the island until a much later period. For the greater part, 



