al have hispid seeds; and eighty-four are glumaceous
plants, which are all probably well-adapted for being carried partly by
winds and partly by currents, as well as by some of the other causes
mentioned. On the other hand we have a very suggestive fact in the absence
from the Azores of most of the trees and shrubs with large and heavy
fruits, however common they may be in Europe. Such are oaks, chestnuts,
hazels, apples, beeches, alders, and firs; while the only trees or large
shrubs are the Portugal laurel, myrtle, laurestinus, elder, _Laurus
canariensis_, _Myrica faya_, and a doubtfully peculiar juniper--all small
berry-bearers, and therefore likely to have been conveyed by one or other
of the modes suggested above.

There can be little doubt that the truly indigenous flora of the islands is
far more scanty than the number of plants recorded would imply, because a
large but unknown proportion of the species are certainly importations,
voluntary or involuntary, by man. As, however, the general character of the
whole flora is that of the south-western peninsula of Europe, and as most
of the introduced plants have come from the same country, it is almost
impossible now to separate them, and Mr. Watson has not attempted to do so.
The whole flora contains representatives of eighty natural orders and 250
genera: and even if we suppose that one-half the species only are truly
indigenous, {261} there will still remain a wonderfully rich and varied
flora to have been carried, by the various natural means above indicated,
over 900 miles of ocean, more especially as the large proportion of species
identical with those of Europe shows that their introduction has been
comparatively recent, and that it is, probably (as in the case of the
birds) still going on. We may therefore feel sure that we have here by no
means reached the limit of distance to which plants can be conveyed by
natural means across the ocean; and this conclusion will be of great value
to us in investigating other cases where the evidence at our command is
less complete, and the indications of origin more obscure or conflicting.

Of the forty species which are considered to be peculiar to the islands,
all are allied to European plants except six, whose nearest affinities are
in the Canaries or Madeira. Two of the Compositae are considered to be
distinct genera, but in this order generic divisions rest on slight
technical distinctions; and the _Campanula vidalii_ i