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