70 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
specimen of it that was about 75 feet high and 78 feet in circum- 
ference. It had scarcely increased in size since it was first 
described by the navigators in the early part of the fifteenth 
century. This interesting tree was destroyed in 1867. Portions 
of it are preserved in the Museum III. at Kew, and a living 
branch is growing in one of the conservatories. This latter is 
probably the only living portion now existing of the renowned 
Dragon tree of Orotava. 
Strange to say, Dragon trees very similar to those in the 
Canaries are found in Socotra, Abyssinia, Somaliland, and other 
parts of the continent of Africa. They all belong to a peculiar old 
type of vegetation. As pointed out by Professor Bayley Balfour, 
" they, amongst others, are the remains of an old African flora 
which once peopled the greater part of the continent at a time when 
the climate was very much colder than at present. As the ice in 
the Ice-age gradually receded northward and the climate got 
warmer these plants were driven upwards to higher regions, 
and also northwards and southwards. The result was that at the 
present day, on the high peaks of South Africa, in the Canary 
Islands, and in other places mentioned, the remains were found 
of the old flora which by climatic changes had been gradually 
driven out and replaced by more tropical plants." Two species 
of Wood-rush (Luzula) are ornamental and grown in English 
gardens. Ltizula canariensis has broad strap-shaped leaves of a 
bright green colour. L. Forsteri grows in damp woods in the 
mountains. The Canary grass (Phalaris canariensis), of which 
the seed is much used as food for cage birds, is found in the 
South of Europe as well as in the Canaries. It is now widely 
cultivated both here and in Germany and in Southern Cali- 
fornia. 
The two members of the Conifera) found in the mountains of 
the Canaries are Pinus canariensis and Junipertis Cedrus. The 
Pinus is known locally as the Tea. It is a handsome tree, growing 
to a great size. The timber is very dense and heavy. It has 
been extensively used in the roofs of churches, and is most 
lasting. The coffins of the Guanches, who embalmed their 
dead, were also made from it. The Juniper is more bushy in 
habit, and is now almost extinct in the islands. 
