Endemism in the Bahama Flora. 1 



BY 



NORMAN TAYLOR. 2 

 With one Map in the Text. 



SOMEWHAT over fourteen per cent, of the wild flora of the Bahama 

 Islands is confined to that archipelago. Among 894 native species 

 scattered through the islands, 132 flowering plants are endemics, while of the 

 balance, about 100 species are derivatives of cultivation or otherwise 

 introduced. 



While the rest of this paper will deal with the endemic flowering 

 plants, the following is inserted to complete the known record of endemism 

 in the archipelago : 



Endemic Species. 

 Spermatophyta ......... 133 



Pteridophyta ......... I 



Bryophyta .......... I 



Thallophyta : 



Fungi 18 



Lichens .......... 19 



Algae (including Diatomaceae) , . . 14 



Myxomycetes ......... o 



The distribution of these endemic flowering plants and their near 

 relatives appears to throw some light upon the floristic composition of the 

 Bahama flora and upon that of adjacent regions. Before beginning 

 a general or specific discussion of these endemics it may not be inap- 

 propriate to record certain facts regarding them that do not coincide with 

 the ' Age and Area' hypothesis of Dr. J. C. Willis. 



The substance of that theory demands that the antiquity of endemics 

 should be measured by the amount of area they have covered. Very rare 

 endemics would be quite ' new ' while widely dispersed ones presumably 

 more ancient. In a paper on ' Endemism in the Flora of the Vicinity of 

 New York ' it was suggested that at least in that region the youth or 



x This study has been made possible by the recent publication of the very complete Bahama 

 Flora by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Charles Frederick Millspaugh. To both authors I am under 

 pleasant obligations for help in the preparation of this account of the endemics. To Dr. Britton 

 especially my acknowledgements are due for his interest in this study and his helpful suggestions 

 during its progress. 



2 Contributions from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, No. 25. 



[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXV. No. CXL. October, 1931.) 



