THF. VEGETATION OF THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 897 



3. More or less strictly confined to the upper montane belt, rarely seen 

 below 400 m. 



Cuminia fcrnamicziana and *cnatitha, Asara fernnndczinna, *i'gnt Se/kirkii, Chusquea, 

 Wahlenbergia Grahamae, Eryngium *buplcuroi(ies and inacccssum, Plantago fernandesia, Robin- 

 sonia thurifera, evcnia and * gracilis, * Rlictinodendron, * Ceniaurodendron, Dendroseris macrantha 

 and marginaia, Phoenicoseris pinnata and *bertcriana, Selkirkin, Hcsfierogreigia, Lactoris, Urtica 

 fcrnandeziana, Gunncra brad cat a, Pcpcromia fcrjiandeziana, Dy sops is, Thyrsopteris, Asplenium 

 darcoides, iitacrosoruni and sicllatuDt, * Pteris scmiadnaia, Polypodiiini Bil/ardicri 2Lr\d intermedium, 

 and the majority of the Hyinenophyllaccac. 



Till-: SUMMIT OF \'A. Vlnque. 



On Johow's map the height is given as 927 m, but other figures are also 

 quoted (Skottsb. /•,-. 156). The climb to the summit is difficult, which may be 

 guessed already from the photographs, irrespectively of the side from where they 

 were taken; the only approach is along the eastern spur, but even this route 

 looks rather formidable, for it is a knife-edge ridge with very little foothold 

 and with a precipice on either side of several hundred m. Besides, the rock is 

 not reliable. ViCLNA Mackenna relates the first ascent made in 1795 by two 

 convicts, who gained their freedom thanks to this feat. The author describes the 

 summit as covered with pangue [Gunnera], canelo [Drimys), chonta [Juania), and 

 murtillo, a name applied to the introduced Ugni MoUnae (perhaps also to the 

 endemic U. Selkirkii) and Fcrnetiya; most likely U. Selkirkii is meant, perhaps 

 also Pernettya. The ascent had not been repeated since, and we certainly would 

 have made an attempt, if this had been possible, but none of us was an expert 

 climber. Some of the younger fishermen are excellent mountaineers, but as it 

 proved impossible to persuade anybody to assist, we had to give up. In 1921 

 a colonist who arrived in Masatierra after our visit, Uberlindo Andaur by name, 

 managed to make the ascent, and on February 7, 1922, he guided the late Dr. 

 Otto Tenz, an amateur botanist, to the summit, from where he brought an 

 interesting collection, which was handed over to me for identification (7^). An 

 account of this excursion was published in a Chilean newspaper (Tenz /) in 1922, 

 and in 1924 he gave a new^ tale of it with more particulars (2); as this Chilean 

 periodical had a small circulation only and seemis to be rare in European libra- 

 ries, I shall give a summary here. 



The ridge leading to the E. face of the mountain is more or less covered 

 by scrub with Ugni Selkirkii and Blechnum cycadifoiium as leading species; 

 scattered canelos occur, and this vegetation continues up the very steep barranca. 

 Tenz mentions tall Blechnum and trunks of Dendroseris, presumably D. marginata 

 or macrantha; his collection contains only two rosette trees to be thought of, 

 Phoenicoseris berteriarta and Ymiquea Tenzii, both sterile. The former inhabits 

 very wet, shaded places and the latter was found in the forest (Fig. 11), and 

 from what he says in his newspaper article about a "Dendroseris", supposed to 

 be new, this was Yunquea and not a species growing on the exposed ridge. 

 On the rim around the wooded gulch was a large sedge, undoubtedly Cladium 

 scirpoideum, which is in the collection. Other species quoted from the highest 



