MR. BTTNBURY ON THE BOTANY OF TFNERIFEE. 29 



preserved unhurt, through a belief (doubtless well-founded) that 

 the destruction of the shade would lead to the failure or diminu- 

 tion of the fine spring which supplies the town and valley with 

 water. The elevation of Agua Mansa is rather more than 4000 

 feet * above the sea-level. 



The large trees in the wood are principally Vinaticos, Persea 

 Indica, and some of them are indeed of great size and noble aspect. 

 Beneath them is a luxuriant and beautiful undergrowth of Erica 

 arborea, Myrica Fay a, Viburnum rugosum, Ilex Canariensis, "Webb 

 and Berth, (the Acevino of the Canarians), Hypericum grandi- 

 folium, and one or two species of Gistus. Few herbaceous plants 

 were in flower at the season of my visit, except a beautiful Eorget- 

 me-not, considered by Webb and Berthelot as identical with our 

 Myosotis sylvatica. Ferns are abundant and fine, particularly 

 Pteris arguta, Asplenium acutum, and Cystopteris fragilis. Gym- 

 nogramme leptophylla ascends to this elevation. The ground, the 

 rocks, and the trunks of trees, are richly carpeted with Mosses : 

 of these the most remarkable is the Glyphocarpus Webbii % Mont., 

 which is in great abundance, covering the moist rocks with broad 

 cushion-like patches of a rich yellow hue ; this seems to have been 

 hitherto found nowhere else. With this exception, the hypnoid 

 mosses predominate greatly ; but the variety of species did not 

 appear to be in proportion to the extent of surface they covered. 

 Pterogonium gracile and Hypnum cupressiforme are especially 

 abundant, covering the trunks of the trees ; the latter of them, as 

 with us, sporting into many varieties. Other Mosses which I 

 found here were : — 



Hypnum Ulecebrum (H. blandum, Lyell) : abundant, but I 

 could find no fruit; the leaves, however, agree with those of 

 authentic specimens from the late Mr. Lyell. 



H. alcpecurum ? (var. with compressed branches and bifarious 

 leaves) : on very wet rocks ; barren. 



LesJcea sericea. 



NecTcera pennata ? :• on trees, sparingly and barren. 



Neckera (AntitricMa, Brid.) curtipendula : on rocks, not in 

 fructification. 



Leucodpn sciuroides. 



Leptodon Smithii, Brid. (Pterogonium, Sm.) : on trees. 



* 3820 French feet, according to Von Buch. 



t Montagne, in Webb and Berthelot, Hist. Nat. Canar., Cryptog. p. 28. pi. 2. 

 %. 2. 



