Palms of Puerto Rico 527 



former taxonomic methods do not exist in the phanerogams as well 

 as in the cryptogams, and it becomes obvious that the enactment 

 of different nomenclatorial legislation for these two subdivisions of 

 the vegetable kingdom would be unreasonable and inconsistent. 



* 



The present list records twenty palms from Puerto Rico, of 

 which three are introduced and seventeen are supposed to be na- 

 tive species. As may also be inferred from many other groups of 

 plants Puerto Rico appears to be a rather remote corner of the 



Antillean region, which 



J 



did not reach, whether by reason of greater distance from the con- 

 tinent or because of an earlier interruption of land communication. 

 The native palms of Puerto Rico may thus be said to represent a 

 distinctly Antillean or Caribbean series, only Acrocomia and Bac- 

 tris being known to have a wider distribution. 



The list of introduced palms, consisting of the date, the cocoa- 

 nut, and the betel, might have been somewhat increased by canvass- 

 ing ornamental gardens, but it does not appear that any other intro- 

 duced species has been put to any useful purpose or has escaped 

 into general culture, certainly a remarkable fact when we consider 

 the number and importance of the economic palms of other trop- 

 ical countries. 



Finally, it may be well to note here that several palms have 

 been reported from Puerto Rico which probably do not exist in the 

 island; at least their occurrence is not supported by adequate evi- 

 dence. Thus Mr. R. T. Hill, of the United States Geological 

 Survey, mentions (Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric, Division of Forestry, 25 : 

 1899) as occurring in Puerto Rico seven palms, as follows : Cocas 

 Mauntia, Oreodoxa oleracea, Cocos uucifera, Martinezia caryotae- 

 foha y Mauritia flexiwsa, Oreodoxa regia, and Caryota sp., of which 

 list only Cocos nucifera and Oreodoxa rcgia appear to have been 

 justified. 



The reference to Oreodoxa oleracea is supported by the botan- 

 ical authority of Professor Drude, but the specimens identified by 

 him as Oreodoxa oleracea (Sintenis collection, no. 1525) and sent 

 from the Berlin Botanical Garden to the National Herbarium and 

 to the New York Botanical Garden are not Oreodoxa oleracea, 

 but belong to the new genus Acrista described below, while a 

 specimen collected by Sintenis (no. 5749) at Aguadilla and sent 



