12 Salter, Flora of Teneriffe. 



contrast with their long, glossy, peach-like leaves and racemes of 

 rose-tinted flowers. Here also amongst the thickets occurs Jasminum 

 Barrelieri (pdoratissimum) , well known in cultivation. The Canarian 

 ivy trails from the rocks. To the steep walls of the chasm cling 

 Semele (Ruscus) androgynus and Genista canariensis, while Convol- 

 vulus canariensis and Tamus edulis twine over all. Moist hollows 

 are full of Cystopteris fragilis and Adiantum capillus-veneris. Early 

 in the year when the fine buttercup, Ranunculus cortuscefolius, 

 flowers, the herbaceous flora of the barranco is at its best. The 

 climbing Canarina campanula then shows its large dull red bells 

 variegated with orange. One of the most striking of Canarian plants, 

 it is not generally common, though in Anaga so abundant that it is 

 there cut by the armful for fodder. Senecio Heritieri, a shrubby, 

 downy-leaved " cineraria," now flowers, to be followed later by the 

 annual S. cruenta, origin of the cultivated cinerarias. Several 

 herbaceous orchids (Orchis patens, Tincea cylindrica, Ophrys bombyli- 

 flora, Platanthera diphylla) occur in the shady thickets, which are a 

 tangle of Myricafaya, Rubus fruticosus, var. canariensis, and shrubby 

 species of Hypericum. In shade is also found the curious little 

 umbellifer Drusa oppositifolia, beset with minute hooks, while 

 Tinguarra cerviaricefolia, a large coarse-leaved member of the same 

 natural order, is seen upon the rock ledges. A little later flowers 

 Ixanthus viscosus (Gentianacese), resembling a large Chlora, and the 

 Canarian fox-glove (Isoplexis canariensis) sends up its tall spikes 

 of orange-red flowers. Pteris arguta is characteristic of the moist 

 depths of this, as of other barrancos, while more sparingly Wood- 

 war dia radicans spreads its seven-foot fronds. 



In the evergreen woods of Teno which look down upon the wide 

 vale of Palmar, in mid-winter verdant with young corn, ferns (chiefly 

 Aspidium canariense) were as luxuriant as in Devonshire coombes, 

 while the mosses and Polypodium vulgare upon the walls, the grey 

 rock and driving mist, strongly recalled Wales. Aihyrium umbrosum 

 is the glory of the Taganana woods, where also, as at Agua Garcia, 

 Trichomanes radicans was met with. Hymenophyllum occurs, but 

 is rare. Selaginella denticulata carpets every damp rock face. 

 Lotus peliorhynchus, the " Pico de Paloma," most beautiful of its 

 genus, with silvery linear leaflets and orange-crimson flowers, is so 

 much in request that it is almost extirpated as a wild plant. B en- 

 comia caudata and moquiniana, both scarce, are allied to and resemble 

 Poterium. The genus Sempervivum is almost as well represented 

 in this zone as in the one below it. Especially remarkable is Monium 

 canariense, which sometimes completely covers rock faces with its 

 great wide-spreading rosettes. The members of the genus Petro- 

 phyes (Monanthes) are succulents of small size, P. polyphyllum 

 resembling a miniature Sempervivum arachnoideum. 



The peculiar flora of this zone of evergreen woods and thickets 

 is in general much better developed upon the northern than upon the 

 southern slope of the central ridge, as might be anticipated from the 

 greater rainfall which there prevails. Especially is this the case in 

 the Anaga peninsula. Here, upon the Cumbre de Anaga, Erica 



