304 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Astrocaryum sp. 



Sea-shore at Palisadoes Plantation, Jamaica. 



Astrocaryum is a Tropical American genus of perhaps thirty species, but we find no 

 record of any species growing in Jamaica. One species occurs in Trinidad. 



EECORDS OF VARIOUS DRIFTED SEEDS GERMINATING AFTER 



BEING CAST ASHORE. 



MALVACEAE. 

 Hibiscus tiliaceus, Linn. 



Hibiscus tiliaceus, Linn. ; Griseb., Fl. Brit. W.'Ind., p. 86 (sub. Paritio) ; Seem., Fl. Vit, p. 18. ' 

 According to Sir J. H. Lefroy (Bot. Berm., p. 52), this was raised from seed washed 

 ashore in the Bermudas about fifty years ago. It is found on nearly all tropical shores. 



AMPELIDEiE. 

 Vitis vinifera, Linn. 



Vitis vinifera, Linn. ; Lefroy, Bot.^Berrn., p.|61.§ 



Sir J. H. Lefroy says : " An interesting example of the diffusion of plants was afforded 

 by the foundering of the ship 'Minnie Breslauer,' on January 6, 1873, on the south 

 shore. She had a cargo of white Lisbon grapes, many of which were washed on shore, 

 and the seeds germinated at high-water mark. Numbers of plants were, from curiosity, 

 taken up and transplanted, some of which bore fruit in 1876." 



SAPINDACE.E. 



Sapindus saponaria, Linn. 



Sapindus saponaria, Linn.; Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. IiuL, p. 126; Seem., Fl. Vit., p. 47; Jones, 

 Naturalist in Bermuda, p. 190; Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. I'rodr., p. 29. 



This common West Indian and South American tree is said to have been raised from 

 seeds washed up on the south shore of the Bermudas. Seemann, loc. cit., says: "I have 

 examined Forster's original specimen of this from Easter Island, preserved at the British 

 Museum, as there was some doubt expressed about its belonging to this species, and, as far 

 as it goes, I find it absolutely identical with the American specimens. Jouan (Mem. Soc. 

 Sci. Nat. Cherbourg, 1865,p. 102) states that Sapindus saponaria is very common in the 

 Marquesas, though he does not seem satisfied that it was the same as the West Indian 

 plant, for he poses the question : " Est-ce la meme espece qu' aux Antilles, et comment 

 est-elle venue aux Marquises?" There is no Sapindus in the Kew Herbarium from 



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