J. E. C. Bodley

“ Treub asserts that there can be no doubt; the most durable seed and the best protected rhizome must have lost all vitality during the intense heat, and not a germ was left. The whole island from the summit of the peak down to the water’s edge is now covered with a layer of cinders and pumice stone, varying from one to sixty metres in thickness. Furthermore, the possibility of the new vegetation having been conveyed thither by man is out of the question, because the island is uninhabited, uninhabitable, and difficult of access. ”

“ Treub doubts the possibility of fern growth. Thus these microscopic organisms prepare the soil for the ferns, much as the latter provide the conditions under which the seeds of phanerogams can germinate and grow.
The phanerogamic element (flowering plants) of the new vegetation consisted, on the shore, of young plants of Galophyllum inophyllum, Cerbera odollam, Hernandia sonora, Scævoia Kænigii, Ipomcæ pescapræ, a species of Erythrina, two species of Cyperaceæ, and Gymnothrix elegans. ”