















14 



ME. H. H. EIDTiET Ol* THE 



mineral matters 



plants. 



dryn 



for the absence of sylvestral plants, the Sapate woods, where 

 such plants would naturally occur, being dry and rocky. 



The absence of petaloid Monocotyledons from oceanic islands 

 has been commented on bv Hemslev* Chall. Exp. Beport, Bot. 









Fernando 



Plants 









t 









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with winged or feathery seeds are supposed to possess great faci- 

 lities for being widelyMisseminated. That this is really the case 

 maybe doubted. The only species with winged or plumed seeds 

 here are Oonolobus micranthus, Jussieua Untfolia, and Ageratum 

 conyzoides. The first of these is endemic; its plumed seeds are used 

 by the endemic Tyrant, Elainea Hidleyana, to line its nest with. 

 Is it conceivable that the seeds of the ancestor of this plant were 

 accidentally brought over attached to the feathers of some bird 

 which had, in like manner, used them for its nest ? Jussieua is 

 a marsh-plant, with small seeds plumed like those of an Epi- 

 lobium; it and the Ageratum only occurred in the cultivated 



ground 



The latter certainly, and 



possibly the former, were introduced as weeds by mau. 



Bromeliaceae, though commonly provided with plumed seeds 



m ±>raziL are 



quite absent here. In reality it 

 would require a strong and very long-continued wind to carry 

 plumed seeds to such a distance from the land, and even if such 

 should be the case, the chances of seeds dropping upon a small 

 island like this would be exceedingly remote. 





























Flora 



When 











- 







. 





there infinite numbers of trees, most of which have now dis- 



appeared. 



Erythrina exaltata, mentioned by Webste 



largest tree in the island, only one full-sized tree now remains ; 

 and as it seems that the young trees will not flower, the species 

 appears to be threatened with speedy extinction. Of the fig- 

 tree, again, but few large ones remain, the finest being in the 



Governor 



garden. This 



govern- 



ment, which provides that all trees of a sufficient size to be made 

 into rafts shall be destroyed, for fear that the convicts might 



„ and 

 great destruction 



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