311 



additions to liis plant list until, at a level of about 5500 ft., L'e 

 comes upon the outposts of the woods in the form of stunted bushes 

 of the Tree-Heath [Erica azorica). On the eastern slopes of the 

 mountain, where for some reason more humid conditions prevail, 

 he will find as soon as he passes below 6000 ft. that the beds of 

 Ling {Calluna vulgaris) afford protection to a variety of different 

 plants. ^ On these wind-swept slopes the Ling beds are only four 

 or five inches high; and in them nestle dwarfed specimens of 

 Juniperus oxycedrus flowering and fruiting as freely, though not 

 over six inches in height, as the trees of ten or twelve feet in 

 the woods below. On exposed peaks in this group, as may be 

 observed on the summits of San Miguel, Terceira, etc.; one often 

 finds a dense spreading growth of stunted Junipers rising only 

 two feet from the ground, a feature also observed and well described 

 by Watson (p, 224); but nowhere did the present writer notice 

 the dwarfing process so pronounced as in the case of these tiny 

 Junipers fruiting in the Ling beds on the bleak heights of Pico. 

 Amongst the other flowering plants that find a sanctuary in these 

 Calluna beds at this altitude are delicate herbaceous plants like 

 Poly gala vulgaris, Erythraea Massoniy and LysimacJiia neviortirriy 

 and hardy shrubs like Vaccinium cylindraceum, which, however, 

 instead of growing nine or ten feet high, as in the woods, is here 

 reduced to five or six inches. 



The impression one forms whilst descending these steep lava 

 slopes of the upper third of the mountain is that many of the plants 

 characteristic of the lower levels would reach the summit, if the 

 soil-conditions allowed it. This was also the opinion of Morelet, 

 the French zoologist, who ascribed the penury of the higher levels 

 to the nature of the surface and the steep angle of the slopes. 

 The repressiA'e influence of the fierce winds that blow around these 

 heights during much of the year would be mainly found in the 

 dwarfing of the trees and shrubs. That several of the plants which 

 are at home in the upper woods between 2000 and 4000 ft. can 

 grow at levels between 5000 and 6000 ft. is shown in their readiness 

 to find shelter at these heights in the small craters and gulches, in 

 the broken-down lava-caverns, and in the numerous fissures and 

 holes. Here we find the Tree-Euphorbia [E. mellifera), the 

 Azorean Holly (Hew perado). Daphne laureola^ Myrsine ajricanay 

 Laurus canariensisy etc., species that are not to be seen on the 

 wind-swept slopes near by ; whilst the Juniper and Yaccinium may 

 be observed growing four or five feet high in a pit and only four 

 or five inches high when exposed on the surface. 



But apart from these sanctuaries on the higher slopes for the 

 more adventurous plants of tlie woods below, stunted specimens 

 of the Tree-Heath [Erica azorica), which form the outposts of the 

 woods, sometimes ascend, as already observed, the lower slopes of 

 the steep upper third of the mountain to between 5500 and 6000 ft. 

 When we get off these steep slopes at a level from 4500 to 5000 ft. 

 the soil-conditions become more favourable. Here the Tree-Heath 

 begins to assert its arborescent habit, and it is associated with 

 Juniper trees of fair size, the Juniper growing well on suitable 



ground at these altitudes. 



We now enter the cloud-belt or rainy zone which in its limits^ 



