= Prenanthes pinnata, which occasionally 
. show themselves on the walls of such 
. gardens as have a southern exposure, 
together with a few other species, common 
to most maritime town 
Generally speaking, ghee towns which 
are situated on the sea-shore, possess some 
Sporadic species, either accidentally intro- 
duced by importation, or produced by local 
circumstances. Thus Argemone Mexicana 
grows no where but on the volcanic soil of 
the town of Garachico and in the vicinity 
of the port of Arecifa on the Island of 
Lancerotta; of Scrophularia arguta the 
_ same may nearly be said; but the amount 
of species diffused over the towns situated 
¥ a E from the coast is very much 
T La Laguna, that antient capital 
EC of Een. built by Alonzo de Lugo, the 
conqueror, on the outskirts of the Rara 
and at an elevation of 1722 feet above the 
level of the sea, enjoys a temperature 
_ Which is peculiarly favorable for the de- 
... Yelopment of urban or town plants. Several 
= gothic dwellings, erected towards the con- 
: clusion of the 15th century, present a most 
à r appearance. These old buildings 
x are clothed with Ferns and Semperviva, 
... the heraldry above their gates is overgrown 
.. With moss, while this vegetation, clinging 
even to more modern edifices, imparts an 
air of antiquity which is peculiarly pleasing 
_ to the admirers of the romantic. Still, as 
: M. Bory de St. Vincent observes, such a 
growth in a town gives but a poor idea of 
its Population and activity to those indi- 
viduals who may visit it for the first time, 
and who, being no Botanists, regard it as 
any thing but an ornament. All along the 
common roads, we meet with many of those 
plants which affect the edges of paths and 
the. Shelter of hedges. These are Urtica 
folia, Galium Aparine, Daphne Cni- 
T Hypericum Canariense and H. 
grandifolium, Cineraria — Tussilaginis, 
 clavulatus, Rubus fruticosus, 
fruticosa, Canarina Campanula, 
. Perr rum Dracunculus 
VEGETATION OF THE CANARY ISLANDS. 
339 
and A. Arisarum, and Delphinium Staphy- 
agria. - : 
Nature, ever varied in her productions, 
has diffused them everywhere, on the wave- 
buffetted rocks, upon buildings, by the 
sides of roads, among ruins, and even upon 
the monuments of the human race; and the 
germs, thus distributed, always propagate 
themselves in similar situations. Thus the 
moist walls of the city of Lugo are clad 
with a peculiar and continually renewed 
vegetation; while the Coliseum has its 
manm plants, that for many centuries, have 
been reproduced from the dust of ruins. 
If we compare those city or urban plants, 
just enumerated, with the Flora of the 
Coliseum, (see Sebastiani's Enumer. Plant. 
spont. nascent. in Amphith. Flavii; Rom. 
Ténériffe and to the ruins of antient Rome; 
and most of the other species, noticed at 
Orotava and La Laguna, have their repre- 
sentatives in individuals of the same genera 
at the Coliseum. Still, notwithstanding 
these points of resemblance, the vegetation 
of Rome does not bear the same aspect as 
that of Laguna ; those plants which clothe 
the antient manorial residences of the old 
capital of Ténériffe and even extend to its 
modern buildings, not growing on the 
houses in Rome, where the climate is much 
drier than that of La Laguna. Those which 
have established themselves on the Coli- 
seum are almost entirely such herbaceous 
species aS may generally be seen among 
rubbish, and which spring up among these 
extensive ruins as they might do on a cal- 
careous hill. The Soncha and Semperviva 
of the city of Lugo are, on the contrary, of 
shrubby growth, they overtop the other 
urban species and excel all the similar pro- 
ductions of Europe in their lofty growth 
and the beauty of their flowers. 
In the ravines of Ténériffe, vegetation 
wan under a fresher and more varied 
these defiles commence in the 
towards the coast. They are distinguished 
in this country, as Valhes or as Barrancos 
