﻿Cook : Flora of the Canary Islands 357 



oiDryopteris and several Aspic niums grow profusely in the forests. 

 i tens aquihna and Poly podium vulgare van scrrataare omnipresent. 

 The latter is a very different plant from the Polypodium of our 

 North American woods and perhaps merits specific rank. 



There are many plants which have so adapted themselves to 

 the rocky character of the soil that they prefer the chinks and 

 crevices of the cliffs to what would appear to be more comfortable 

 looting, as the aborigenes of the country chose rather to live in 

 caves than in properly constructed houses which they understood 

 well how to make. Conspicuous among such are the Crassulaceae 

 which reach their greatest development on these islands. About 

 Sixty species are known from the Atlantic islands, but about thirty - 

 ei ght of these are exclusively Canarian. They range in size from 



1( ~ tiny Sedum rubens and Ptcrophycs brachycaulon, 2 to 6 inches in 

 weight, to the giant Sempervivums 2 to 3 feet long, which somehow 

 m anage to suspend their great rosettes of heavy, fleshy leaves and 

 «nse flower clusters, from most inaccessible and barren-looking 

 c ins. These form also a picturesque element of the urban flora 

 such old towns as Laguna and Firgas where they grow on 



e red-tiled roofs in company with a great, golden-flowered 



Senecio. 



But the richest of the island vegetation is found in the great 



° rests which still remain to indicate the former beauty of the 



arc npelago. There are about twenty strictly arboreal forest 



s F>ccies. In the south -central part of Canary, one may ride for 



°ura beneath the shade of the native pine {Pinus Canariensisy—* 



species said to have existed in Europe during the Tertiary period 



llt n °W found only on the Canaries, its nearest living relatives be- 



"g Mexican species. The extensive forests of Mercedes and 



gua Garcia in Tenerife contain four magnificent Lauraceae, 



' oe barbusana, Ocotca foctens, Launts Canariensis and Pcrsca 



''< ica. All occur also in Madeira and the two latter in the 



'ores. There are two tree heaths found also in Kurope ; two 



species of Ilex, one confined to the Canaries, the other found 



' s ° "I Madeira ; the beautiful Primus lusitanica and Myricafaya ; 



tos Canariensis, a peculiar species, whose golden fruits resem- 



miniature oranges; and Vtsnea mocanera, the mocan of the 



anans from which the aborigines fermented an intoxicating 



