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



endemic species. This peculiarity, it is true, is almost as strikingly exemplified iu the flora 

 of the Azores, the nearest of which is about 900 miles distant from the mainland of Western 

 Europe. In this flora of 478 species, only thirty-nine, or about one-twelfth, are endemic; and 

 most of these, like the Bermudau endemic species, are so closely allied to continental ones that 

 they may be regarded as derivatives of them. About half-a-dozen of them are more closely 

 related to Madeiran species than European ; and one only, the very rare Campanula vidalii, 

 is so very distinct from all other known species as to suggest the possibility of its being 

 the remains of a more ancient flora. One, Solidago azorica, proves to be identical with 

 Solidago sempervirens, a native of the east coast of North America, and apparently 

 indigenous in the Bermudas. In the following enumeration we have entered into the 

 details of the distribution of this plant; and although it was cultivated in Europe in 

 Linnseus's time, and may possibly have been introduced into the Azores, we are of opinion 

 that the probabilities of its being indigenous are at least as great as those of Eriocaulon 

 septan gidare, Spiranthes romanzoviana, and one or two other, otherwise exclusively North 

 American plants, being indigenous in Ireland. Moreover, there is a similar instance in the 

 South Atlantic. Thus Asplenium compressum, which was formerly supposed to be endemic 

 in St Helena, was one of the few plants collected by Dr Copeland in South Trinidad 

 during a short excursion in the island in 1873. 1 



The endemic element in the flora of the Bermudas, as far as it is at present known, is 

 limited to eight species, namely, Erigeron darrellianus, Statice lefroyi, Sisyrinchium 

 bermudiana, Sabal blachburniana ? Carex bermudiana, Adiantum bellum, Asplenium 

 lajfanianum and Nephrodium bermudianum. In the body of the work, the affinities, 

 &c, of each species are fully discussed, and it is shown that closely allied species inhabit 

 either South-Eastern North America or the West Indies. It is still uncertain whether the 

 palm (Sabal) is endemic or common to some of the West Indian Islands. The only 

 indication of a possibly older flora is offered by the Carex, which is most nearly related to 

 the endemic species of the Island of St Helena. Only one imperfect specimen of it has 

 been seen, however, and that was collected by J. Dickinson about the year 1699. Thus 

 it will be seen that we have similar characteristics in the flora of the volcanic Azores and 

 the coralline Bermudas. 



Indigenous Plants Prominent in the Present Vegetation of the Islands. 



Already allusion has been made to the all-pervading cedar (Juniperus), and its pro- 

 minent though by far less numerously represented associate, the palmetto (Sabal). Next 

 to the cedar some of the introduced plants are certaiidy more conspicuous and more 

 generally diffused than any of the other indigenous species, and only a small number of 

 the latter are really abundant. From documentary and other evidence the following 

 1 What is known of the vegetation of this islet follows the flora of St Helena in this work. 



