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



Very rare indeed according to Melliss, growing only at High Peak, and near the 

 Old Picquet House, above West Lodge. In the British Museum are specimens collected 

 by Forster and Robertson, 1773. 



By an oversight the name gummiferus was applied to this plant in Hooker's Icones 

 Plantarum. The error seems to have originated with Burchell, who incorrectly, in his 

 manuscript tabulation of the synonymy of the St Helena Composites, reproduced at p. 70, 

 cites De Candolle as reducing Solidago cuneifolia, Roxb., to Solidago gummifera, Roxb., 

 whereas he doubtfully referred it to the genus Lachanodes. 



Commidendron robustum, DC. 



Commidendron robustum, DC, Prodr., v. p. 344; Melliss, St Hel., p. 284, t. 39. 



Commidendron gummiferum, DC, loc. cit. 



Aster roxburghii, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. PL, xi. p. 45. 



Conyza robusta et Conyza gummifera, Roxb. in Beatson's St Helena Tracts, p. 304. 



St Helena. — Endemic. Longwood — Burchell, 152; Lady Dalhousie; without 

 locality — Walker; Wollaston; Melliss. 



"Gumwood." 



Melliss estimated the total number of gumwood trees in the island, in 1868, at about 

 1300 or 1400, and gave the approximate number in each locality where they grew. The 

 principal are : — Longwood, Deadwood, and Lowe's Gardens, about 700 or 800 ; Man and 

 Horse, about 50 ; Thompson's Wood, about 50 ; valley next to Shipway's, about 60 ; 

 valley next to Rock Rose Hill, about 100 ; valley between Rock Mount and Peak Dale, 

 about 100; and valley between Peak Dale and Lufkins, about 100. Formerly this was 

 the most abundant tree in the island, and covered large areas. Roxburgh states that it 

 grew on the more elevated parts of the interior of the island ; but Melliss says it does 

 not occur at a greater elevation than 1900 feet. We append his remarks on the distribu- 

 tion of this tree : — "The gumwood does not grow on the central and most elevated land 

 where the native cabbage-trees and inhabitants of the cooler regions are found. Scarcely 

 a tree exists at a greater altitude than 1900 feet above the sea; and there is still sufficient 

 evidence to show that its habitat was on the now semi-barren slopes which stretch away to 

 the sea-coast, and encircle the middle zone of the island — such as Longwood, Deadwood, 

 Man and Horse, New Ground, and similar localities. Longwood and Deadwood, as their 

 names imply, were originally covered with trees ; nor is this the only evidence of their 

 having been abundantly wooded, for natives still living on the island, as well as the 

 records, tell of thick woods once covering those now grassy plains. Knowing this to be 

 the case, there is no reason to doubt that other parts of the island, which now appear 

 barren and so unlikely to support vegetation, were once also, down to the sea-cliffs, clothed 

 with green woods, as stated by early visitors to the island." 



