REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. II 



worthy plants in the above list, because they are as much indigenous as any of the plants, 

 are Elceodendron, Rhachicallis, Juniperus, and the Spiranth.es, to which might be added, per- 

 haps, the Atriplex and the Peperomia. Rhachicallis is a very singular little shrub, inhabiting 

 rocky sea-shores from Cuba and Jamaica to the Bahamas; and it is one of the characteristic 

 plants of the Bermudan flora. The most remarkable plant, however, is the orchid, Spiranthes. 

 Orchids are exceedingly rare in remote islands and islets, and much rarer, generally speaking, 

 in islands nearer continents than on the continents themselves ; aud this is the only one with 

 which we have to deal in the vegetation of the islands of the Atlantic and South Indian 

 Oceans. In the Azores there are only three species, two of which are endemic. 



From the figures given in the preceding table it will be seen that there is an equal 

 number (twenty-three) of North American plants which are apparently indigenous in the 

 Bermudas, but do not extend to the West Indies. These are : — - 



Kosteletzkya virginica,, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Rhus toxicodendron, Opuntia pes- 

 corvi? Galium uniflorum, Eupatorium fceniculaceum, Solidago sempervirens, Solidago 

 stricta, Baccharis glomerulijlora, Pluchea camphorata, Ipomoza sagittata, Phryma leptos- 

 tachya, Celtis occidentalis, Urtica chamcBdryoides, Parietaria pennsylvanica, J uncus 

 marginatus, Zostera marina f Hcleocharis melanocarpa, Rhynchospora stipitata, 1 Pas- 

 palum sebaceum, Woodwardia virginica, Nephrodium thelypteris, and Osmunda regalis. 



This North American element in the flora may be partly due to the agency of man ; 

 but the majority of the species inhabit salt marshes and the sea-shore of the mainland, and 

 similar situations in the islands. Rhus toxicodendron is one of the plants mentioned 

 by the earliest visitors as inhabiting the islands ; and the Baccharis, Pluchea, Juncus, 

 Heleocliaris, Rhynchospora, and the ferns are all plants unlikely to have been introduced 

 by man, either accidentally or purposely. Besides, the localities in which they occur point 

 to their being truly indigenous. 



Widely Dispersed Species. 



Of the 144 species comprising the indigenous flora, some forty-six are widely dispersed, 

 by which is meant that, independently of their distribution in the New World, they extend 

 to some part of the Old. Many of them are generally diffused in warm regions, especially 

 the purely maritime plants. There can be no doubt that many of the latter class owe their 

 present wide range to the action of the sea itself. 



Endemic Plants. 



As compared with other islands in similar and different latitudes and similarly situated 

 in relation to the nearest continents, the flora of the Bermudas is singularly poor in 



1 A plant only recently discovered in Florida, and described in the Supplement to Chapman's Flora of the 

 Southern United States. 



