composites also begin to give a European aspect to the wayside herbage. It is
between 2,000 and 5,000 feet that the forests and ravines exhibit the utmost
development of tropical luxuriance and beauty. The abundance of noble Tree-
ferns, sometimes fifty feet high, contributes greatly to the general effect, since of
all the forms of tropical vegetation they are certainly the most striking and
beautiful. Some of the deep ravines which have been cleared of large timber are
full of them from top to bottom; and where the road crosses one of these valleys,
the view of their feathery crowns, in varied positions above and below the eye,
offers a spectacle of picturesque beauty never to be forgotten. The splendid
foliage of the broad-leaved Musaceae and Zingiberaceae, with their curious and
brilliant flowers; and the elegant and varied forms of plants allied to Begonia
and Melastoma, continually attract the attention in this region. Filling in the
spaces between the trees and larger plants, on every trunk and stump and branch,
are hosts of Orchids, Ferns and Lycopods, which wave and hang and intertwine
in ever-varying complexity. At about 5,000 feet I first saw horsetails
(Equisetum), very like our own species. At 6,000 feet, raspberries abound, and
thence to the summit of the mountain there are three species of eatable Rubus.
At 7,000 feet Cypresses appear, and the forest trees become reduced in size, and
more covered with mosses and lichens. From this point upward these rapidly
increase, so that the blocks of rock and scoria that form the mountain slope are
completely hidden in a mossy vegetation. At about 5,000 feet European forms of
plants become abundant. Several species of Honeysuckle, St. John's-wort, and
Guelder-rose abound, and at about 9,000 feet we first meet with the rare and
beautiful Royal Cowslip (Primula imperialis), which is said to be found nowhere
else in the world but on this solitary mountain summit. It has a tall, stout stem,
sometimes more than three feet high, the root leaves are eighteen inches long,
and it bears several whorls of cowslip-like flowers, instead of a terminal cluster
only. The forest trees, gnarled and dwarfed to the dimensions of bushes, reach up
to the very rim of the old crater, but do not extend over the hollow on its summit.
Here we find a good deal of open ground, with thickets of shrubby Artemisias
and Gnaphaliums, like our southernwood and cudweed, but six or eight feet
high; while Buttercups, Violets, Whortleberries, Sow-thistles, Chickweed, white
and yellow Cruciferae, Plantain, and annual grasses everywhere abound. Where
there are bushes and shrubs, the St. John's-wort and Honeysuckle grow
abundantly, while the Imperial Cowslip only exhibits its elegant blossoms under
the damp shade of the thickets.
Mr. Motley, who visited the mountain in the dry season, and paid much
attention to botany, gives the following list of genera of European plants found