Stewart — Botanical Conditions on the Galapagos Islands. 321 



other trees, under which there are tangled thickets of Zanth- 

 oxylum bushes. 



Low forests cover the country between 450 and 650 ft. eleva- 

 tion, which are made up of a mixture of xerophytic and meso- 

 phytic forais. Bursera trees are common on the lower part of 

 this area, but they decrease in number higher up, where the 

 forests are composed largely of Pisonia floribunda, Psidium 

 galapageium, and Scalesia pedunculata. The Scalesia trees 

 are smaller, and fewer in number here than they are in the 

 Scalesia forests higher up. Quite a number of ferns grow in 

 the vegetable mold, and on exposed rocks in this region, such 

 species as Polypodium pectinatum, P. squamatum, and Trachy- 

 pteris pinnata being the most common. A few epiphytes grow 

 on the trees and bushes among which are : lonopsis utricular- 

 ioides, Peperomia galapagensis, Polypodium lepidopteris, and 

 Tillandsia insularis. Common bushes in this region are : Chio- 

 cocca alba, Erigeron tenuifolius, Gossypium barbadense, and 

 Tournefortia strigosa. The region above an elevation of 650 

 ft. was not visited, but it appeared to be covered with Scalesia 

 forests a short distance above this elevation. 



The dry region extends to an elevation of about 400 ft. at 

 this place. We did not reach the upper limit of the transition 

 region, but as near as could be estimated, it extends to about 

 800 ft., the elevation at which the Scalesia forests probably be- 

 gin. 



No effort was made to get far into the interior at this place, 

 as we made our first visit to the island here, and expected to 

 find better places for doing this elsewhere later in our trip. 

 After having failed to accomplish this at other places, it now 

 seems probable that this would have been the best place to 

 have made the attempt after all. It is very likely that one 

 would have no difficulty in reaching the lower edge of the 

 Scalesia forests in a half day's journey, if no collecting were 

 done on the way. From this point it is probably not over three 

 or four miles to the base of a large lateral crater, on the south- 

 east side of the mountain just below the top. Judging from 

 its appearance, this crater would present about the same botan- 

 ical conditions as occur around the top of the mountain. The 

 advantages to be gained from exploring the interior of the is- 

 land from this side are ; the slope is not so gradual, so that ele- 

 vation could be gained by traveling shorter distances, and. 

 21— S. & A. 



