As was to have been anticipated, the Maroccan Flora contains most of the European species which have been collected on the mountains of Abyssinia and of the Bight of Biafra, which alone of the tropical African Alps have been botanically explored. Of these the former have been visited by Schimper and various collectors; whilst the mountains of the pestilential West African coast, of Fernando Po, 9,500 feet, and the Cameroons Mountains, upwards of 13,000 feet, have been ascended for botanical purposes only by Gustav Mann, when employed for the Royal Gardens of Kew.
The results of the latter were published by myself in the ‘Journal of the Linnæan Society of London’ (vol. vii. p. 171), from whence the following observations are for the most part extracted. They included 26 European species, gathered at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. Most of them are also natives of the Abyssinian Alps, and two-thirds of them are also Maroccan, whilst others will probably yet be found in the latter country.
The following is a catalogue of all the European plants found in the upper regions of the Cameroons Mountains and Fernando Po:—
| Height | Where found | |
|---|---|---|
| feet | ||
| Cardamine hirsuta | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Cerastium vulgatum (viscosum Fr.) | 8,000 | „ „ |
| Radiola Millegrana | 7,000 | Marocco |
| Oxalis corniculata | 7,000-8,500 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Umbilicus pendulinus | 7,000-10,000 | „ „ |
| Sanicula europæa | 4,000-7,500 | Abyssinia |
| Galium rotundifolium | 7,000-12,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Galium Aparine | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Scabiosa succisa | 10,500? | |
| Myosotis stricta | 8,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Limosella aquatica | 9,000-10,000 | Abyssinia |
| Sibthorpia europæa | 7,000-7,500 | „ |
| Solanum nigrum | 7,000-11,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Rumex obtusifolius | 7,000 | Abyssinia |
| Parietaria mauritanica | 7,000-8,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Trichonema Bulbocodium | 7,000-9,000 | „ „ |
| Juncus capitatus | 7,000 | Marocco |
| Luzula campestris | 8,000-10,000 | Abyssinia |
| Deschampsia cæspitosa | 9,000-12,000 | „ |
| Aira caryophyllea | 7,000-8,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Poa nemoralis | 7,000-10,000 | Abyssinia |
| Kœleria cristata | 8,000-12,000 | „ |
| Vulpia bromoides | 7,000-10,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
| Festuca gigantea | 8,500 | Marocco |
| Brachypodium sylvaticum | 7,000 | Abyssinia |
| Andropogon distachyus | 7,000 | Marocco and Abyssinia |
The most remarkable features of the Temperate vegetation of these West African tropical mountains are:—
1. Its poverty.
2. The preponderance of Abyssinian genera and species.
3. The considerable proportion of European plants.
4. The paucity of South African genera and species.
5. The great rarity of new genera.