436 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



there by the Hochstetters in 1838 no other botanist has discovered 

 it in any of the other islands. Its vertical distribution on the great 

 mountain is stated in Seubert's work, from information supplied 

 by Hochstetter, to range from 4000 feet almost to the summit. 

 However, I found it at lower levels. It is a characteristic plant of 

 the upland moors and of the grassy intervals in the open woodlands 

 between 3000 and 4000 feet, and it grows under the same conditions 

 off the mountain in the lake district to the eastward at an altitude 

 of 2500 feet. On the exposed higher slopes of the great cone, amongst 

 the ashes and the old lava-flows, it seeks the protection of the beds 

 of Calluna vulgaris, and in this manner reaches almost to the summit. 

 Details of its occurrence in these high levels are given on previous 

 pages. It in all probability grows on the uplands of San Jorge. 



Rhamnus latifolia, L'Her. — The " Sanguinho " of the Azoreans, 

 a name suggested by the reddish hue of the wood. This small tree, 

 which behaves in winter as a sub-evergreen, apparently retaining 

 its summer foliage in the mild winter, attains a height usually of 

 ten to fifteen feet, at times reaching twenty feet. It flowers in May 

 and June, and matures its fruit in July and August. In Seubert's 

 work it is stated to be common in the woods of all the islands, extend- 

 ing up to nearly 3000 feet, and in the zones of vegetation on Pico, 

 which he gives (p. 6) from the notes of the Hochstetters, he places 

 it in the lower- woods zone, that is, below 2500 feet. This corresponds 

 with my own observations on the mountain, where I found it most 

 typical of the lower woods below 2000 feet, but frequently reaching 

 to 3000 feet. It shows itself shortly after one passes the cultivated 

 zone in the ascent of the mountain, namely, at 1000 feet. The 

 island of Pico is not mentioned in Trelease's list of localities, which 

 include Flores, Fayal, San Miguel, and Santa Maria; but, as has 

 just been implied, it was found there by the Hochstetters as far back 

 as 1838. Low T e, writing in the middle of last century, indicates that 

 in Madeira it was then apparently extinct as a wild plant. 



Sibthorpia europcea, L. — Distributed over the group. Common in 

 the upland moors of Pico between 2000 and 4000 feet and extending 

 at times to nearly 5000 feet. Hochstetter gives it an altitude of 

 about 4000 feet on Pico. It occurs on the summit of Pico da Vara, 

 the highest point of San Miguel, 3570 feet above the sea. On Pico 

 it was in flower and fruit in July, the flowers examined having five 

 calyx segments. Several years ago I kept some English plants 

 under observation in South Devon. Both out of doors and under 

 cover most of the fruits failed to mature, and only a few dehisced, 

 behaviour which seems to indicate the northern limit of the climatic 

 conditions suitable for the species. 



Taxus baccata, L. — The " Teixo " of the Azoreans. Watson re- 

 marks that he had no confirmation of its existence in the mountains 

 of these islands, alluding to a report to that effect mentioned by 

 Seubert. However, Drouet refers to it as growing in 1857 on Flores, 

 but beginning to be rare, the wood being much valued by cabinet- 

 makers. Trelease, who visited the group forty years later, writes 

 that it " formerly occurred in workable size on Corvo and Flores, 

 whence it was exported as a source of royal revenue. Now seemingly 



