TREES GROWN ON ASCENSION. 143 



There is appended also the following list of botanical names of 

 trees and shrubs growing on the Peak : — Juniperus Bermudiana, 

 Podocarpus sp., Brugmansia suaveolens, Brugmansia sanguinea, 

 Ficus (four species), Casuarina (two species), Acacia, four species, 

 including the Wattle, Tlex sp., Alpinia nutafts, Pinus excelsa, Pinus 

 pinea, Vitex trifolia, Bignonia (Stoniby sp.), Hibiscus (five varieties), 

 Clerodendron fragrans, Coffea Arabica, Buddlea (Ascension gum 

 bush), Eriobotrya Japonica (the loquat), Quercus robur (English 

 oak), Cedrus Deodara (one plant), Cupressus torulosa, Widdringtonia 

 juniperoides, Fourcroya gigantea, Hakea sp., Virgilia Capensis, 

 Eucalyptus (four species), Nei'ium oleander, splendens, Phytolacca 

 decandra, Myrica cordifolia, Leucodendron argenteum, Melaleuca 

 hypericifolia, Rhus laevigata, Schottia latifolia, Pandanus odoratis- 

 simus. Fruits — The banana, peach, lime, orange, fig, loquat, and 

 guavas, the latter being the only kind that produces fruit. Respect- 

 ing the natural grasses on the Peak, it is said, — " What appears to be 

 grass is in reality not grass at all, being only sedges, near relations 

 to the English rush." 



I consider that the preservation of the water under the wattle, to 

 which reference is made, may be accounted for otherwise than by 

 supposing that the moisture is attracted by vegetation ; but the fact 

 of the connection between plantations and moisture, resulting in an 

 increase of the former being accompanied by an increase of the latter, 

 remains the same whatever theory or hypothesis may be entertained 

 in regard to the modus operandi. 



In the Report of Kew Garden, for 1864, it is stated, "that from 

 Ascension there continued to be received encouraging accounts of the 

 increased fertility and moisture of the island, consequent on the 

 extension of the plantations." And in the Report for 1865, it is 

 stated, — " Of once sterile Ascension Island, which we continue to 

 supply with plants, Captain Barnard reports that it now possesses 

 thickets of upwards of forty kinds of trees, besides numerous 

 shrubs and fruit trees, of which, however, only the guava ripens. 

 These already afford timber for fencing cattle-yards. When Mr 

 Hooker visited the island in 1843, owing to want of water, but 

 one tree existed on it, and there were not enough vegetables 

 produced to supply the Commandant's table ; whereas now, through 

 the introduction of vegetation, the water supply is excellent, and the 

 garrison and ships visiting the island are supplied with abundance of 

 vegetables of various kinds." Later reports I have not seen. 



