Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixii. (1918), No. 8. 5 



No. 3 extends to about 396 m. (1300 ft.), which is the limit of 

 the orange above Guimar. No. 4 ceases at about 628 m. (2060 ft.), 

 but isolated patches of cultivation are carried to a much higher level. 

 The wide difference as regards vegetation presented by the coastal 

 belt at its lower and at its upper limits will be further dealt with 

 shortly. Upon the steeper northern slope, (2), the desert strip is 

 much reduced or altogether absent. 



The second of the great zones, that of the evergreen woods 

 and moist shady barrancos, is a perfectly natural one, as is also that 

 of the pine forest which succeeds it as we pass upward. Following 

 upon this, the writer would recognise the zone of shrubby foliose 

 Leguminosae, two in number, Cytisus prolifer, the Escobon, and 

 Adenocarpus viscosus, the Codeso. These, the chief fodder plants 

 of the island, occupy wide tracts upon the higher slopes of the 

 cumbre, immediately below the all but leafless Spartocytisus nubi- 

 genus with which shrubby vegetation ends. 



A. The Coast Region and Lower Slopes to 730 m. 



Much of the coast is of a steep and rocky nature. Wherever 

 this is the case, the parsnip-like Astydamia canariensis occurs. 

 Lower stretches of coast have a beach of black volcanic sand, upon 

 which a furious surf usually beats. Immediately above this is a 

 strip of foreshore vegetation, which, upon examination, is found to be 

 more varied than at first appears, but is of a cosmopolitan character, 

 consisting largely of small Chenopodiaceae and representatives of 

 allied orders, with such plants as Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, 

 Frankenia pulverulenta and Icevis, Picridium crystallinum, Helio- 

 phytum erosum, and Euphorbia peplis and par alias. A rgyranthemum 

 frutescens (the common Paris daisy) and one or two species of Beta 

 alone represent the endemic flora. Here, too, is the curious succu- 

 lent Zygophyllum Fontanesii, with each of its crowded leaves of the 

 size and shape of a moschatel grape. In the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the sea occur Schizogyne sericea (a Composite with silvery- 

 white foliage), Lycium afrum and Salsola oppositifolia, further 

 Statice pectinata, Polycarpcea Teneriffce and Forskohlea angustifolia 

 (Urticaceae), the two last being endemic, while Ifloga spicata, allied 

 to Filago, is of wider distribution. 



Rising more or less abruptly from the coast there is upon the 

 south side of the island a barren and almost waterless region, in places 

 as much as 10 kils. in breadth. Much of this is a hopeless country 

 entirely given up to Opuntia (coccinellifera and Dillenii). The former, 

 cultivated at the time of the cochineal industry, is now a serious 

 pest, as every detached segment lying upon the ground takes root. 

 Here are stretches of loose black sand, hills of baked glazed slag 

 or of volcanic cinders, old lava-flows and every variety of stony and 

 gritty malpais. Very characteristic is the alternation of intensely 

 hard layers (having a calcareous appearance) with loose pumice. 

 Upon these " pavements " scarcely anything grows but the white 

 cistus (C. monspeliensis) , sometimes accompanied by the hoary, 



