382 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



buds ; the latter possess cylindrical leaves, six to nine inches long, which 

 lie prostrate in the water, and are not erect, as has been sometimes 

 described. It was evident that the floating growths of Potamogeton 

 polygonifolius were inimical to the growth of the large forms of 

 Littorella and Isoetes. They are rapidly extending in the ponds, and 

 not improbably will ultimately exterminate the last-named plant. 



The Uplands of the Island of San Miguel. — The great upward 

 extension of the cultivated zone, and the large intermingling of 

 foreign trees and shrubs with the indigenous trees and shrubs of 

 the lower slopes up to 2000 feet, will cause our interest to be mainly 

 centred on the upland regions as best illustrated in the mountainous 

 eastern portion of this island. It may, however, be observed that 

 on the lower slopes of San Miguel, as far as they are still held by the 

 indigenous flora, occur the characteristic trees and shrubs of the 

 lower woods of Pico, such as Erica azorica, Laurus canariensis, 

 Myrica fay a, Myrsine africana, Viburnum tinus, etc., the last named 

 being more generally distributed over the island than it is on Pico. 



Without further remark I will proceed with my notes on the 

 ascents of the Pico da Vara Range in the eastern part of San Miguel, 

 a range that culminates at an altitude of 3570 feet in the peak of 

 that name, the highest point of the island. My ascents were made 

 in the latter part of February ; but it is evident from Drouet's account 

 of the vegetation of the higher slopes of the range in May, that 

 except for the plants in bloom my notes will give a fair idea of the 

 general characters of the larger vegetation in that weather-beaten 

 region. 



Pico da Vara, the highest peak of the range, rises abruptly about 

 600 feet at the eastern extremity of a long, flat-topped, wind-swept 

 ridge that forms the mountainous backbone of the eastern part of 

 San Miguel, and attains a general level of about 3000 feet above 

 the sea. It is a cloud-begirt, wind-buffeted region of heavy rainfall, 

 and it receives the full force of the Atlantic gales. One may walk 

 for three miles along the flat crest of this ridge from its western 

 end without changing one's level more than 200 feet. The soil 

 there is derived from the prevailing coarse, andesitic, pumiceous 

 tuffs; but the materials are only partially disintegrated, so that 

 one crunches underfoot the loose, sodden, pumice gravel that strews 

 the surface. On the crest of this mountainous backbone occur 

 stunted growths of Juniperus oxycedrus and Laurus canariensis 

 (Laurel), mingled with Myrsine africana, Vaccinium cylindraceum, 

 and the Culcita fern (Dicksonia culcita) ; and in response to the 

 prevailing moist conditions there are tussocky growths of Polytrichum. 

 At the western end of the range, where the ridge broadens out into 

 a kind of table-land, the surface is in places boggy, and in the pools 

 grow Potamogeton polygonifolius and Callitriche aquatica, with 

 Sphagnum and Juncus at the borders. 



But the stunted growths of the Juniper and the Laurel largely 

 monopolise the higher slopes of this mountain ridge, the Laurel 

 reaching to the top of the ridge and the Juniper extending to the 

 summit of the eastern peak. In this wind-swept region their height 

 is usually between two and three feet; but where the exposure is 



