314 



slope. The bracken [Pteris aquilina) and the tussocks of Poly- 

 trichum give a character to their rolling grassy surfaces. It is 

 a pleasure to tread their springy turf after the rough descent of 

 the precipitous scantily vegetated lava slopes above; and if it is 

 summer the multitude of herbaceous plants in bloom will delight 

 the eye. One may on the western side distinguish between the 

 boggy lower areas, where Si^hagnum flourishes, and the relatively 

 drier upper levels where peat-mosses do not live; but more often 

 the differentiation is not to be made, and one may stumble on a bed 

 or a pocket of SfJiagnxim without much warning. On the drier 

 ground thrive Erythraea Massoniy Lysimachia neTnoriim (var, 

 azoTica)^ Luzula picrpureo-splenden'Sj Menziesta poUfolia, Poly gala 

 vulgaris, Potentilla tormentilla, and Thymus SerpyUum^ with an 

 occasional scrub of Calluna) vulgaris, Sibthorpia europaea 

 conceals with its foliage the shady side of pits and holes, but with 

 the Lysimachia it is almost as common in the wetter areas. 

 Terrestrial orchids (Serapias^ Habenaria) are not infrequent, and 

 the turf is dotted with single tufts of LycopodiuTn Selago, 



The wetter areas, when of any size, are essentially Sphagnum 

 moors, and the Polytrichum tussocks are here more numerous 

 and larger (1|~2 ft. high, 2-3 ft. across), the peat-moss being 

 often closely associated with them in their growth. Anagallis 

 tenellay Hydrocotyle vulgaris , and Viola palustris grow in great 

 abundance, and amongst the Carices Carex flava is the most 

 common and sometimes almost monopolises the ground. It may 

 be doubted whether the Bog Pimpernel {Anagallis tenella) exists 

 in greater profusion in any part of its range than on the island 

 of Pico, The writer has walked for miles on the mountain moors 

 to the east of the peak, treading on its flowers at almost every step. 

 In the tussocks, or rather hummocks, of Polytrichum nearly all 

 the flowering plants of the wet moor in turn find a home, but 

 Hydrocotyle vulgaris is most frequently to be noticed growing 

 in their midst* The tussocks of Polytrichum by becoming con- 

 fluent form in places dense beds nearly appropriating the ground. 

 This is to be noticed on the northern side of Pico, where the moor- 

 vegetation begins to ascend the steep upper third of the mountain. 



The Sphagnum growth is in some localities very extensive, as 

 on the south-west side of the mountain between the Serra Gorda 

 and San Mattheus. For 1| or 2 miles from the Serra the soil is 



stoneless and peaty, and Sphagnum forms dense growth?, a foot 



high or more, around the bases of the shrubs of Erica azorica 

 that here clothe the surface. The bushes, in fact, seem to grow 

 out of Sphagnum tussocks. The significance of this association is 

 not very obvious. Tansley, in his "' Types of British Vegetation '' 

 (1911, p. 235), describes similar growths of Sphagnum around the 



bases of bushes and on the stools of Phrag mites in the fen forma- 

 tion of East Norfolk, and he considers that the acids secreted by 

 the peat-mosses would be neutralised by the alkaline ground- 

 waters. In the coastal swamps of the Carolina region a large fern, 

 Woodwardia virginica, grows out of low Sphagnum tussocks which 

 are surrounded by standing water (Harshberger's ^^ Phytographic 



Survey of TsTorth America,'* 1911, p. 441). The Pico locality, 

 it should be noted, lies in the midst of a region of basic lavas 



