fORMâT
t io n of
rocks, where nature has juft begun her great Work, in producing
organic vegetable bodies, and in forming a thin coat o f foil, on the
the tops o f barren cliffs; and fo fparing was fhe o f thefe her pre-
fents., that no more than two plants would vegetate here, the one
a graft (Dafdyfis glomerata) and the other a kind o f burnet (Stm-
■ guiforba.). ■ .
T o T ie r r a d e l F i i e g o , the next land to the Weft ward, I will
join Staten-Land on account o f fhe great umilarity they bear to
each other, in the general face o f the country. In the cavities and
crevices o f the huge piles o f rocks forming thefe'lands, yvbere a
little mdifture .is preferved by its fituation, and where from the
continued friftion o f the loofe pieces o f rocks, waflied and hurried
down the fteep fides o f the rocky maftes, a few minute particles),
form a kind o f land; there in the ftagnant wafer gradually fpring
up,, a few algaceous plants from, feeds carried thither on the feet,
plumage, and.bills of birds: thefe plants form at the end of
each feafbn a few atoms o f mould, which yearly increafes: the
birds, the lea, or the wind carries from a neighbouring ifle,
the feeds o f fame o f the molly plants to this little mould, and
they vegetate in it during the proper feafon. Though thefe plants
be not ahfolute mofles, they are however nearly related to them in
their habit: we reckon among them the Ix ia pumila-, a new plant
which we called D o n a t i a , a fmall M e l an thium, a minute
6 O x a l is
O x a l i s and C a l e n d u l a , another liffls dioicous plant, called
by us P h y l l a c b n e , together with the M niaJIum * . Thefe
plants, or the greater part o f them, have a peculiar growth, particularly
adapted to thefe regions, and fit for forming foil and
mould on barren rocks. In proportion as they grow up, they
fpread into various, ftems and branches* which lie as Clofe together
as pofiible: they fpread new feeds, and! at Taft a large fpot is covered j
the lowermoft fibres, roots,, ftalks and leaves gradually decay, and
pufh forth on the top new verdant leaves: the decaying lower parts
forma kind o f peat or turf, which gradually change! into mould
and foil. T h e elofe texture o f thefe plants, hinders the. moifture
below from evaporating, and thus furnishes nutriment to-the vege*
tation above, and clothes at laft whole hills and ifles with a eori*
ftant verdure. Among thefe putnilous plants, ferae of a greater
ftature begin to thrive, without in the leaft prejudicing the growth
of thefe creators of mould and foil. Among thefe plants we reckon
a fmall A r butus , a diminutive myrtle, a Kttle dandelion,, a final!
creeping C r As sula , the common P inguicula aipina, a yellow
variety of the V i o l a palujlris, the Sira t i c e armerm, or lea pink,
a kind of burnet, the R anunculus- hppotiieus,, the H olcus odo-
ratus, the Common celery, with the A hab-is heterophylla. Soon-
after we obferved in places that are flail covered with the above*
mentioned
fo rma tion
of
SOI l
* See Forfler,. Nova. Genera, Plantarunu