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



consist of equal numbers of phanerogams and cryptogams. In Amsterdam, thirty-three 

 species have been collected, whereof seventeen are cryptogams and sixteen phanerogams ; 

 and of fifteen from St Paul, five are cryptogams. Nine of the flowering plants are endemic, 

 whereas not one of the ferns or club-mosses is peculiar to these islands. Out of the nine 

 endemic species, three — Colobanthus diffusus, Plantago stauntoni, and Trisetum insulare, 

 are only known from St Paul Island ; four — Plantago pentasperma, Scirpus atropurpureo- 

 vaginatus, Agrostis delislei, and Agrostis difficilis, are only recorded from Amsterdam ; 

 and two — Uncinia brevicaulis and Poa novarce, occur in both islands. The Scirpus should 

 perhaps not rank higher than a variety of Scirpus nodosus. Of the ten remaining flower- 

 ing plants, only one, Ranunculus biternatus, is American, and not New Zealand, whereas 

 three are New Zealand plants, but not American. Two are generally diffused in the south 

 temperate zone, and one is much more widely distributed. The other two, Phylica nitida 

 and Spartina arundinacea, which are characteristic plants, the former of Amsterdam only, 

 and the latter of both islands, both occur and predominate in the Tristan da Cunha group ; 

 the former likewise inhabits Bourbon and Mauritius, while the latter is apparently restricted 

 to Tristan da Cunha and these islands. Among the ferns are two similarly limited in their 

 distribution, while several are African or Mascarene, 1 and not American. Only two are 

 specially American, and the rest have a wide range. 



The vegetation is clearly of composite origin, and the remarks on this point in the 

 preceding account of the flora of Tristan are equally applicable here. 



A few introduced plants have more or less established themselves in Amsterdam and 

 St Paul Islands. They are :—Stettaria media, Daucus carota, Sonchus oleraceus, 

 Sonchus arvensis, Rumex acetosa, Poa annua, Polypogon monspeliensis, Panicum 

 sanguinale, IIolcus lanatus, and Holcus mollis. 



Sonchus oleraceus had become so common that MacGillivray and Milne thought it 

 mio-ht be indigenous. 



1 We suspect the correctness of the record of two or three of these species for reasons given under the species 

 in question in the following catalogue. 



