JuLy 1906. } THE BOTANY OF ASCENSION. * 201 
without doubt it is spreading on the island. Of the four 
phanerogams recorded from the island, considered by Mr. 
Hemsley as indigenous, I found, besides Portulaca oleracea, 
only Huphorbia origanoides. This endemic species is com- 
paratively rare: near Georgetown on the “golf links” are 
afew stunted specimens, though on the “road’ across the 
plains to Green Mountain I found not a few vigorous plants 
of it, all growing in an almost desiccated soil. Neither of the 
two above essentially xerophilous species tinds a place in the 
vegetation of the higher slopes of Green Mountain. Several 
introduced weeds show signs of prospering, despite the adverse 
conditions ; but the planted palms are all in an extremely 
miserable condition. Among the species which seem to find 
themselves most at home are Vinca rosea, Clematis, several 
species of Physalis, and Ricinus communis; while several plants 
of Opuntia, planted, I believe, to give some shade near the 
“God be thanked” water tank on the road to Green Mountain, 
show every sign of spreading. In view of the essentially 
desert character of these plains, it is surprising to find the 
statement of Schimper! that “the island is almost completely 
overgrown with ferns,” but this is a deduction evidently 
drawn froin the floral statistics, which show among indigenous 
species a great preponderance of ferns. 
Encircling Green Mountain at a height of 2000 feet runs 
Elliott’s Pass—a pathway some two to three miles in length 
and generally cut on the slope of the hill, but often running 
through short tunnels where a precipice would otherwise 
interrupt its course. On this path, and principally in the 
damper localities in or about the shaded entrances to the 
tunnels, I collected all the cryptogams enumerated in the 
following list. The list contains a few new records for 
Ascension ; and while, in the extremely altered state of the 
vegetation to-day, it is impossible to absolutely assert that 
any of these are indigenous, there is, on the other hand, 
no very plausible reason for considering any of them as 
introduced. 
My collections suggest no new affinities for the flora of 
Ascension, which shows all evidence of long isolation, and has 
an indigenous flora too scanty to allow any generalisation to 
be safely made as to its relationships. 
1 A. F, W. Schimper, “ Pflanzengeographie” (1898), p. 90. 
