22 MR. BUNBURY OK THE BOTANY OF MADEIRA. 



IV. Plants common to all the three groups, scarcely 



FOUND ELSEWHERE. 



FLanunculus cortuscefolius (= JR. grandifolius, Lowe). 

 Hypericum foliosim, Soland. (= H. grandifoliwm, DC. ; see 

 "Watson in ' Lond. Journ. Bot.' iii. 588). 

 Frankenia ericifolia, Chr. Smith. 

 Faya fragifera, Webb (= Myrica Fay a, Soland.). 

 Fersea Indica, Spreng. 

 Muscus androgynus, L. 



The Madeira plants belonging to this Macaronesian flora are 

 inhabitants either of the sea-cliffs, or of the mountain woods and 

 rocks in the interior, here and there descending along the deep 

 rocky ravines towards the coast. From the region lying between 

 the actual sea-cliffs and the upper limits of vine culture, on 

 the southern side of the island, they have been mostly expelled 

 by cultivation or by plants of European origin. Micromeria varia 

 is perhaps more generally diffused through the island than any 

 other phaenogamous species of this peculiar flora, growing on 

 almost all the rocks, as well near the coast as in the ravines of 

 the mountains. Davallia Canariensis is another very general 

 Madeira plant which may fairly be included in this category, 

 since its head-quarters are evidently in Madeira and the Canaries, 

 and it appears a straggler in Europe, where it is confined to the 

 corner nearest to the islands in question. The most remarkable 

 and striking features of this flora are the trees which compose 

 the principal part of the native forests, namely the four species 

 of Laurel, and the Clethra arbor ea ; the more remarkable, because 

 they appear to have no affinity with the flora of the neighbouring 

 continent of Africa. The singular fact of the absence of Laurinece 

 from tropical Africa was long since pointed out by Mr. Brown, 

 and has been confirmed by subsequent researches. At the Cape 

 of Grood Hope, indeed, there is a solitary species * (Ocotea bul- 

 lata), and it is worth notice that this resembles the Til of Madeira 

 and the Canaries in the qualities of its wood. Otherwise, very 

 little analogy can be perceived between the truly indigenous 

 flora of Madeira and that of South Africa. 



The genus Frica, indeed, holds a conspicuous place in the 

 floras of both these countries, but in very different ways. Ma- 

 deira has two species only of Heath, but these cover a vast extent 



* Besides the anomalous Cassytha. 



