BERMUDA. 23 



The scenery of Bermuda is in some respects not unlike that 

 of northern lake districts, for the numerous small islands which 

 are dotted over the sounds and land-locked sheets of water are 

 covered with vegetation down to the water's edge. The dark 

 colour of the juniper trees (Juniper us harhadensis), called in the 

 island " cedar," the prevailing foliage, not unlike that of pines in 

 appearance, gives the landscape a northern aspect, and on cloudy 

 days, the island as viewed from the sea, looks cold and bleak. 

 Only the extreme lowness of all the land is characteristic and 

 distinctive. Next conspicuous to the juniper as a general feature 

 in the vegetation, is probably the oleander, which having been 

 introduced, flourishes everywhere. A large portion of the un- 

 cultivated land is covered with a dense growth of another 

 introduced plant, Lantana camera, a most troublesome weed. 



The most refreshing and beautiful vegetation in Bermuda is 

 that growing in the marshes and caves. The marshes or peat 

 bogs lie in the inland hollows between two ranges of hills. 

 These bogs are covered with a tall luxuriant growth of ferns, 

 especially two species of Osmunda (0. cinnamomea and 0. 

 regalis). Some ferns are restricted to particular marshes. In 

 some Acrostichum aureum grows densely to a height of from 4 to 

 5 feet. Together with the ferns grow the juniper which thrives 

 in the marshes, and a Palmetto, which gives a pleasing variety 

 to the foliage. 



The peat of these marshes is mainly composed of the cUlris 

 of the rhizomes of the ferns and roots and bases of the sedges, 

 especially of one very large species of Cladium. A bog moss 

 grows in the marshes, but is not abundant enough to take much 

 share in the peat formation. The peat burns well and has very 

 much the appearance of ordinary home peat. The stems of 

 junipers are occasionally found in it in good preservation, and of 

 larger size than any now growing on the island. The formation 

 of peat at sea level in so warm a climate, seems very unusual. 

 Darwin has dwelt on the peculiar conditions of climate necessary 

 to the formation of peat. In South America and the Falkland 

 Islands, as here, the peat is formed by the slow decomposition of 

 plants other than mosses.* 



* Darwin, " Journal of Researches," 2nd Ed. London, J. Murray, 

 1845, p. 28?. 



