Excerpt from Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, 1863, Vol. 49
The deep, rocky ravines called 'barrancos,' which everywhere furrow these wooded slopes, contain the springs which furnish most of the scanty water-supply of the island, and here, in dampness and shade. Mosses and Hepatics flourish luxuriantly. In the three magnificent 'barrancos' of Rio, Badajos, and Anavingo, all easily accessible from Guimar, most of the Mosses in the following list were collected. To the Monte Verde succeed the scant remains of the pine-forests, still lying within the influence of the cloud-belt. Above the upper limit of the Pinar sterility reigns, vegetation being almost restricted to certain endemic Leguminos?. There is here intense dryness of the atmosphere, strong insolation by day, a great difference between day and night temperature. Upon the Peak, at the shelter-hut (10,700 ft.), no Mosses were noted, and with difficulty a very few Lichens were found. At the Rambleta (11,700 ft.) the only moss met with was Grimmia trichophylla, maintained by the moisture due to condensation of steam escaping from a volcanic vent. Short visits were paid to some specially favourable localities, as to the laurel-woods of Teno at the western extremity of the island, the little patch of forest at Agua Garcia, and the luxuriant evergreen woods of Las Mercedes and Taganana, which support a cryptogamic flora unequalled elsewhere in Teneriffe. All these localities are situated upon the older formations, which evidently retain much more moisture than do the later volcanic deposits which now cover the greater part of the island."
For assistance in drawing up the following list I am greatly indebted to Mons. J. Cardot.
Ceratodon purpureus Brid. Pinar, above Ladera, Guimar (no. 3).
Cynodontium Bruntoni B. & S. Pinar, above Ladera, Guimar (no. 12), c. fr. The capsule is more symmetrical, smoother, and with less distinct neck than in our usual European form, and the leaf-cells more pellucid.
Leucobryum glaucum Schp. Taganana (no. 41).
Fissidens serrulatus Brid. Agua Garcia (no. 42), c. setis. An unusual form, having the cells practically smooth. - F. adiantoides Hedw. Agua Garcia (no. 40).
Gymnostomum calcareum Bry. germ. Monte Yzana, Guimar (no. 7). - Var. muticum Boul. Barranco del Rio, Guimar (no. 15).
Weisia crispata (Bry. germ.) Jur. Barranco del Rio, Guimar (no. 17), c. fr. New to the Canaries. The peristome in several of the capsules is more highly developed than usual, the teeth red and quite conspicuously protruding beyond the capsule mouth; in other capsules it is paler and much shorter. The leaves are stoutish, with wide points and strong nerve, often cucullate, and with the margins widely enrolled.
Timmiella anomala Limpr. Barranco, above Arafo (no. 8), c. fr. Barranco del Rio, Guimar (no. 23), c. fr.
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