BOTANICAL NOTES FROM PORTUGAL 13 



if only to direct the attention of British botanists to what is 

 obviously a very rich region. 



Our own attention was largely drawn to the region by a 

 perusal of Count von Solms Laubach's Tentamen Bryo-Geographice 

 Algarvice Regni Lusitani Provincice (Hals, 1868), which, though 

 primarily concerned with the bryology of the district, gives an 

 interesting outline of its physical characteristics and general 

 botany. An interesting account of a rather rapid excursion 

 through the district earlier in the year was also recently given by 

 Prof. E. Chodat in his Excursions Botaniques en Espagne et au 

 Portugal (Geneva, 1909). 



The Serra de Monchique, towards the foot of which Caldas is 

 situate, is a chain of rounded hills, covered with vegetation to 

 their summits, rarely giving rise to cliffs or rock surfaces except 

 in the barrancos, and reaching a maximum elevation of 3000 ft. 

 in Foia above Monchique. The chain is almost exclusively com- 

 posed of granite, and the only limestone which we came across 

 was in the low ground near the coast at Portimao and Silves, 

 where, in spite of more intensive cultivation, the effect on the 

 flora was very marked. The hills are sparsely wooded, though 

 there are remains of what was no doubt a fairly extensive chest- 

 nut forest near the town of Monchique. They are mostly covered 

 with a maquis of very varied composition, but rich in Cistus, 

 especially G. ladaniferus var. macidatus, which occasionally grows 

 in almost exclusive formations. The unspotted form, though 

 treated by Willkomm and Lange as the type, is very much rarer ; 

 indeed, we only saw a very few plants of this as compared with 

 many thousands of the var. macidatus. The rare and local Myrica 

 Faya, which may reach a height of over twenty feet, is also a 

 prominent constituent in places. Pound the springs near the 

 summits of some of the higher hills there are here and there small 

 shallow formations of peat, and here Rhododendron bceticum Bss. 

 grows freely, and is clearly native, though its specific distinctness 

 from B. ponticum L. is less obvious. 



Among the rarer plants seen by us in the district was 

 Cheilanthes hispanica Mett., which was not uncommon on rather 

 dry rocks near Caldas de Monchique. 



The following is a list of the principal plants observed by us 

 in Algarve, which have been arranged in accordance with the 

 system adopted by Willkomm and Lange in their Prodromus 

 Flora Hispanica. 



Caldas de Monchique and the surrounding Hills. 



Gymnogramme leptophyllaDesv. Anthoxanthum Puelii Lee. 



Cheilanthes odor a Sw. Andropogon hirtum L. 



C. hispanica Mett. var. long ear istatum Wk. 



Selaginella denticulata Spring. Ghceturus fasciculatus Lk. 



Pinus pinaster Ait. Airopsis globosa Desv. 



P. pinea L. Trisetum neglectum E. & S. 



Juniperus phcenicea L. Briza minor L. 



Colocasia antiquorum Schott. B. maxima L. 



