PLANT LIFE OF THE CANARY ISLANDS. 



763 



Sonchus spinosus, of tlie volcanic regions, generally afflicted by the 

 dodder which bears its name; Asparagus, Ephedra, etc. 



As one travels from the shore to the interior, the flora slowly 

 changes as the temperature falls. In Teneriffe there is a gradual and 

 complete transition from subtropical to purely arctic vegetation. 

 Valleys, fields, hills, and gorges have their own characteristic plants. 



The hillside flora is an interesting one. Often the whole lower 

 part will be covered with an ugly growth of Opuntia, the prickly 

 pear. There are two wild species, both very abundant and greatly 

 esteemed for the sake of the pulpy fruit, which in the drier islands, 

 where rain sometimes does not fall for several years, serves as a 

 substitute for water. One was formerly extensively cultivated as the 

 host-plant of the cochineal insect, but the discovery of aniline dyes 

 has nearly ruined this industry. Still many fields exist, and the 

 bare-footed women are yet to be seen passing between the spiny rows, 

 putting the insects on each plant by hand. In the wet season, after 

 being sown with the parasite in this way, the branches are tied up in 



4 ^ 







CdCniNEAi, ('iLiruK. Tlie " lu-wiy plaiiffd" iiixrt^ [.i. itroit.l inim rain by cloths. 



white cloth to prevent the insects being washed off by rain, and a 

 field so doctored is ridiculously suggestive of a regiment of bandaged 

 feet. 



These prickly things are disagreeable enough to the climber, but 

 above them there is a most attractive region. Asphodels bloom in 



