392 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



" a close forest of evergreens must have formerly covered the ground." 

 After a few weeks in the islands the present writer found himself 

 unconsciously restoring the evergreen woods that once predominated 

 in the group. All the trees and shrubs indicated by Watson as 

 composing the original forests are named below, with one exception, 

 Myrtus communis, the indigenous character of which has not always 

 been admitted. Four others have been added in my account, 

 namely, the species of Taxus, Euphorbia, Smilax, and Rhamnus, of 

 which the first has been recognised by Trelease and others as originally 

 native, whilst the other three are peculiar Macaronesian species 

 (Macaronesia comprising the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries) 

 that are held by Watson as well as by Trelease as truly indigenous 

 Azorean plants. All were evergreens, even Prunus lusitanica. 



Amongst the trees, Erica azorica, Laurus canariensis, Myrica fay a, 

 and Juniperus oxycedrus (var. brevifolia), would have been most 

 frequent. Ilex perado would have been well represented, together 

 with Picconia excelsa and Taxus baccata. Rhamnus latifolius, & 

 sub-evergreen, doubtless took its share, together with Prunus 

 lusitanica, the latter being now only known from San Miguel. The 

 Tree-Euphorbia (E. stygiana) was probably more frequent than it 

 is at present. Among the evergreen shrubs, Myrsine africana, it 

 is likely, took a leading part ; Vaccinium cylindraceum was abundant ; 

 and whilst Daphne laureola flourished in the upper woods, Hypericum 

 foliosum was common in the lower woods. The Laurestinus shrub 

 (Viburnum tinus) was well represented in places; and climbers like 

 Smilax canariensis and Hedera canariensis were conspicuous. One 

 cannot, however, pursue this subject here, and reference will now be 

 made to another feature of the original evergreen forest, of which 

 mention has not yet been made. 



The Large Size of the Trees in the Original Forests. — One 

 can scarcely be surprised that authors, judging the past from the 

 present, should write depreciatingly of the original forests of the 

 Azores. Godman (p. 4) characterises them as " underwood " ; and 

 Watson (p. 268), when alluding to their features, speaks of the 



frutescent and sub-arborescent " species, and of the " shrubs and 

 small trees," of which they were composed. Hartung, who spent 

 four months as a geologist in these islands in 1857, takes the same 

 view in his book; but he depended mainly on Watson and Seubert 

 for his botanical information, and made but few original observations 

 except in the case of the buried Junipers. He was anxious to labour 

 the point that the plants which are trees in the Canaries and Madeira 

 become shrubs in the Azores; and he even rejected the adverse 

 testimony of his buried Juniper trees, a subject discussed in a later 

 page. A juster appreciation is given in Seubert' s work, which is 

 based on the observations of the Hochstetters, where it is stated 

 that plants such as Erica azorica, Laurus canariensis, and Myrica 

 faya, which form bushes in the higher zones, grow as true trees in 

 the lower woods. 



Deforestation at the hands of the woodcutters has been in progress 

 for centuries, and in no localities more than in the woods bordering 

 the roads or tracks, where only young trees grow. Visitors following 

 the ordinary routes would thus only see young wood ; and the trees 



