Sailing outbound for India in 1501, Portuguese explorer João da Nova sighted an isolated island in the mid-Atlantic and named his discovery “Ilha da Ascensão.” The abundant sea birds and turtles provided his crew with fresh food, but the barren landscape did not appeal to Da Nova and he did not claim the island for Portugal.
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Oldenlandia adscensionis - A volcano, emerging out of the Atlantic Ocean, formed Ascension about 1 million years ago. Being a young island, the soil consists mostly of clinker, a rough basaltic lava. The flora able to take root arrived by air or sea and began to evolve into unique species, but plants and animals with a limited dispersal are easy victims of extinction. Oldenlandia adscensionis and many other endemic plants became extinct through habitat loss or over grazing when goats, sheep, rabbits, and rats were introduced to the island.
