770 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The native pine is a stately tree witli wide-spreading circular 

 crown. Its nearest relatives are Mexican and East Indian sj)ecies. 

 It still covers large tracts of land, and one may ride for hours 

 over the needle-covered ground where hardly any undergrowth 

 breaks the pleasant monotony of the uniform, soft brown. The 

 Canary tamarisk grows in clumps in the drier barrancos, and is 

 also found in the groves of wild olives, Lentiscus, and Bosea which 

 still exist as remnants of the woods which once covered the hills 

 around Tafira. The wiry stems of a twining asclepiadaceous plant 

 (Periploca) wind around these low trees, sometimes making im- 

 passable thickets. There are fine forests in Los Telos and near Firgas 

 in Canary, and still more beautiful and much larger ones in the vicin- 

 ity of Laguna, Teneriffe. Du Mont d'Urville says of one of these 

 (Agua Garcia) that it recalls perfectly the forests of the isles of the 

 Pacific Ocean and of ISTew Guinea. One may ride all day through 

 the half twilight of the dense woods. There are four native species 

 of laurel, belonging to three genera, which here attain superb size; 

 two species of tree heath, two of holly, a beautiful Prunus, and an 

 arbutus tree whose bright orange fruits resemble miniature oranges. 

 The forest flora has a dense undergrowth of native viburnum, 

 shrubby species of the mint, and umbellifer families. There are 

 brooks and beautiful waterfalls, and on the banks of these ferns grow 

 to a height of from four to seven feet. Around the bushes and trees 

 twine the European ivy, and the curious Canarina, a large-flowered 

 member of the morning-glory family, and Danae, a plant of the 

 smilax tribe, whose flowers spring from the margins of broad-leaf- 

 like stem expansions. One of the loveliest of the forest flowers is a 

 large, pale-violet geranium with anemone-like leaves. But mere enu- 

 meration can give no idea of the beauties of these wonderful wood- 

 lands. Where there have been forest fires or clearings, a host of 

 weeds spring up which, Berthelot says, gain predominance over one 

 another in a certain definite succession, leading gradually to the 

 reformation of forest. 



Some of the most curious plants of the island flora have a limited 

 distribution. The crater of Badhama in Canary has one or two 

 species unknown elsewhere. ISTear the great rock of " Saucillo," a 

 pillar of stone, near the center of the same island, one or two unique 

 species have been found. The great crater of Palma, one of the 

 largest and most perfect in the world, is the cradle and only home 

 of others. Above all, the grand old " Peak " and its circle of sur- 

 rounding mountains, the Caiiadas, have proved most prolific in 

 peculiar forms. More thorough exploration may perhaps extend 

 some of these limited areas, but probably will not contradict the ex- 

 treme isolation of many species. The careful study of the distribu- 



