﻿356 Cook : Flora of the Canary Islands 



The Borraginaceae are greatly developed. The bright flowers 

 of Echium plantagineum are a very familiar sight in all kinds of 

 habitats. We once found among the ordinary deep-blue-flowered 

 plants a single specimen bearing pure white blossoms. The giant 

 spikes of the eleven fruticose species of the same genus — all pecu- 

 liar to the archipelago — are conspicuous on the hillsides. Some 

 of these are also decidedly local in their distribution. Dense mats 

 of Hcliotropium erosum cover large patches of dry, volcanic earth, 

 while the sky -bright blossoms of Myosatis love the dampest places 

 and the forest shade. 



Another of our garden relatives, but again a peculiar species, 

 is Reseda scoparia } which abounds on the volcanic wastes near 

 Guia de Canaria, although we find it reported only from Tenerife 

 and from the desert promontory at the northeast of Canary. 

 Moreover, our garden u Nasturtium/' Tropaeolum majus, not men- 

 tioned by Webb and Berthelot, grows profusely in damp places, 

 evidently at home. 



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As one passes from the coast inland, he finds himself amongst 

 a labyrinth of hills and mountains intersected by innumerable 

 ravines or separated by broad valleys. Some of the hillsides are 

 entirely covered with Opuntia, others are white with the flowers of 

 Cytisus or Retama, others yellow with Adettocarpus or Teline, on. 

 others grow in profusion Asphodelus, Gladiolus, Ferula, Andryah, 

 Romulca, etc., to the delight of the collector. The little native 

 Ar is arum springs from damp soil among the rocks as well as on the 

 barren plains ; rarely one meets with a small colony of Habenaria on 

 the wet cliffs. Ferns abound. Davallia Cauaricnsis roots on the 

 bare rocks or on forest trees indiscriminately. Adiantum Capitis 

 Veneris is still more abundant ; its delicate fronds grace every 

 water-way or dripping cavern. Trickomancs radicans is found 

 only in one locality, a dark gorge in the beautiful forest of Agua 



plenium palmatu'" 



roofs damp caves, and hangs from the precipitous cliffs which 

 bound narrow gorges, and Adiantum reniforme — which is found 

 otherwise only in Madeira— grows in similar places. The fragrant 

 little Cheilanthes pulc/uila, called by the English tourists the 



Nodi 



" hay-scented fern," hides in the crevices of stone walls. 



la e/t a marantea is not uncommon on dry hillsides. Two speen 



