FLORA OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



species out of five, and Proteacete has at least three endemic 

 species # . 



The general and preponderating features of the flora are 

 decidedly Malayan ; most of the genera are those which spread 

 over the great Indo-Malayan region, while others are of more 

 restricted range. Thus the Meliaceous genus Dasci/coleum has 

 four species, two of which are peculiar to the Philippines and 

 two to Borneo ; the Verbenaceous genus Symphorema has three 

 species, two of which are Indian, the third peculiar to the Philip, 

 pines. Alleanthus, in IJrticaceae, has two species, one peculiar to 

 the Philippines and one to Ceylon. The monotypic genus Octo- 

 meles, a remarkable genus of Datiscere, appears to be confined to 

 the Philippines, Borneo, and Sumatra. On the other hand, a lar^e 

 number of typical Malayan genera have not yet been detected in 

 the Philippines, though many of them occur in the neighbouring 

 island of Borneo. This fact is a remarkable one, and points to 

 some jieculiar conditions in the past history of the islands. Mr. 

 Wallace attributes the absence of such a large number of widely 

 spread Malayan genera of animals to the large amount of submer- 

 gence to which the Philippines have undoubtedly been subjected, 

 and their consequent extinction. This, no doubt, is one of the 

 causes ; but when the geographical position and peculiar sur- 

 roundings of the Philipjnnes are borne in mind, it seems probable, 

 and, indeed, almost certain, that a large number both of animals 

 and plants never migrated so far in this direction. The large 

 number of Malayan types present, with the proportion of en- 

 demic species, as well as a considerable boreal and Australian 

 element, to be presently noticed, all seem to point to the fact 

 that submergence alone will not account for the present peculia- 

 rities, and that the former distribution of land and sea, permitting 

 these successive migrations to reach the islands, while at the 

 same time preventing others, must all be taken into account. 



The next striking, and perhaps in some respects the most re- 

 markable, feature in the flora is the presence of a considerable 



* Of the six species of Helicia enumerated by Villar one is based on Cuming 

 no. 2338, which is from Malacca, and must consequently be excluded ; another 

 sent to Kew as H. castaneafolia, Meisn., is H. pkilippinensis, Meisn., one of 

 the three known endemic species ; the remaining one I have not seen. This 

 instance shows the difficulty of estimating the number of endemic specie* in 

 the face of Villar's identifications. 



