408 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



vegetation. On its rocky slopes bushes prevail. Here we see the 

 Cactoid Euphorbias, the curious rubiaceous Plocama pendula with 

 the habit of a Casuarina, many shrubby Composite, such as Kleinia 

 neriifolia, as well as several kinds of boragineous plants of the genus 

 JEchium and a score of species of Statice. Here the Canarian palm 

 ^Phoenix canariensis) is at home ; but probably next to the Cactoid 

 Euphorbias the Dragon-trees (Dracaena draco, dealt with in Note 31 

 of the Appendix) gave most character to the larger vegetation in the 

 early days. Amongst the most conspicuous and interesting of the 

 lesser plants are the fleshy-leaved Crassulaceoz. On the steep slopes 

 of the barrancos and on the faces of the lofty coast-cliffs they present 

 themselves often as large flat rosettes that may measure as much as 

 twelve or even fifteen inches across. Nowhere else in the world, 

 writes Hemsley in his account of Christ's investigations, is there 

 such a concentration of this class of plants, no fewer than fifty-two 

 species having been enumerated by Christ, mostly belonging to the 

 genus Sempervivum. 



Then follows, between 2000 and 5000 feet, the region of clouds 

 and of rains, the zone of the Laurel forests, where we notice several 

 Azorean trees and shrubs, such as Laurus canariensis and Persea 

 indica among the Laurels, as well as Myrica faya, Picconia excelsa, 

 a similar Tree-Heath (Erica arborea), and the same or allied or 

 representative species of Ilex, Rhamnus, Smilax, Viburnum, and 

 Vaccinium. Amongst the several trees and shrubs that are not 

 found in the Azores are the two Laurels, Oreodaphne foetens and 

 Phoebe barbusana, a species of Arbutus, and a species of the American 

 genus, Clethra. The American elements in the Canarian flora will 

 be again alluded to. 



Above the Laurel woods we enter the Pine belt, which is most 

 characteristic of the levels between 5000 and 6500 feet. This was 

 also the zone of the Juniper, now, as Christ remarks, almost exter- 

 minated on Teneriffe. It is highly probable that the Juniper 

 (Juniperus oxycedrus) was once associated with the Pine (Pinus 

 canariensis) in considerable quantity; but the value placed on its 

 timber, not only by the colonists but also by the aborigines, has 

 resulted, according to Christ and others, in its practical extinction. 

 However, scattered individuals still exist in the upper portion of 

 the Pine belt; but it is extremely probable that it had originally 

 much the same range as the Pine. It would seem that it still 

 exists at altitudes of about 4000 feet on Palma, another island of 

 the group, and that it once grew near the summit of one of the highest 

 peaks of the island, the Pico del Cedro, which rises 7470 feet above 

 the sea (see Bolle as quoted by Christ, and Samler Brown's Guide 

 to the Canary Islands, 1905, pp. 1, 10). We might expect that the 

 original vertical range of Juniperus oxycedrus on Teneriffe was 

 about a thousand feet higher than it is on the slopes of the Great 

 Atlas, about three degrees farther north, where it was placed by 

 Hooker and Ball (p. 433) at 4000 to 6500 feet. 



Beyond the Pine belt is a belt covered with the " codeso " (Adeno- 

 varpus viscosus), a leguminous shrub that extends to about 7000 feet. 

 This plant then gives place on the pumice-stone plains of the Canadas 



