34 THE PLANT WORIvD 



and fifty species have been described for Chile ; they bear showy red, 

 pink, or white flowers. Some species are found in the low foothills, 

 others grow at the edge of snowbanks high in the mountains. Calceo- 

 larias are found everywhere — some are small shrubs, others herbaceous, 

 all have small flowers ; but as the flower-clusters are large they are 

 nearly as showy as the greenhouse varieties. 



The lyiliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Oxalidaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and 

 Violaceae are all more numerous than in the eastern United States. The 

 Violaceae especially have some peculiar species — some are shrubby, others 

 near the line of perpetual snow are of an arctic type, the tiny leaves 

 covered with soft hairs and the dark purple blossoms scarcely a quarter 

 of an inch across. To pick a bunch of violets would be very difl&cult, 

 even from the shrubby forms, for they, like all other plants, are widely 

 scattered. 



The only milkweed I have found is a delicate vine with inconspic- 

 uous flowers. The Ericaceae is represented by only a few species, all 

 in the south. Rosaceae and Ranunculaceae are not numerous. The tree 

 forms of the Urticaceae are entirely absent, as are also hickories and 

 walnuts. Orchids are rare and usually green or white with small blos- 

 soms. No arums are found in the country. Sedges are few, but grasses 

 make fully as large a proportion of the plants as in other parts of the 

 world . 



Although represented by different genera, here as in the United States, 

 the great dominant orders are : Compositae, Gramineae, Leguminosae, 

 Rosaceae, lyiliaceae, Scrophulariaceae, lyabiatae, Umbelliferae, and 

 Cruciferae. 



Institute Ingles, Santiago de Chile. 



Conditions of Plant Growth on the Isle 



of Pines. 



By W. W. Rowlee. 



The Isle of Pines has an area of nearly a thousand square miles. It 

 is about one-fifth as large as Jamaica and is as large as all the other islands 

 that immediately surround Cuba would be if put together. It lies about 

 thirty miles south of western Cuba, from which it is separated by a very 

 shallow archipelago, the islands of which are small coral keys covered 

 for the most part with a dense growth of mangrove. The island lies on 

 the southern verge of the plateau, the northern part of which is the 



