Volume 13 Number 6 



The Plant World 



A Magazine of General Botany 

 JUNE, 1910 



THE COASTAL DESERTS OF JAMAICA. 

 By Forrest Shreve. 



During a recent visit to the island of Jamaica the writer 

 made some short excursions to regions in the vicinity of Kingston 

 which have the characteristic vegetation and physiognomy of 

 deserts. These regions fringe the south coast of the island from 

 the mouth of the Cane river, just east of Kingston, for a dis- 

 tance of about 70 miles to the Pedro Bluffs, having their largest 

 area in the vicinity of Port Henderson, in the Healthshire Hills 

 and in Portland Ridge. The desert-like character of these areas 

 lying directly along the sea is due to a combination of cli- 

 matic and soil factors which operate not only in Jamaica but 

 in a similar manner on the coast of Cuba and San Domingo and 

 in many of the smaller islands in the Bahamas and the Turks and 

 Caicos groups. 



The vegetation of the West Indian deserts bears a striking 

 resemblance to that of the continental deserts in that it is made 

 up of the same three ecological types, i. e. schlerophyllous shrubs, 

 succulents and ephemeral herbs. The shrubs are the predomi- 

 nant type and they usually form a closed stand from 3 to 10 feet 

 in height, making the appearance of the landscape quite unlike 

 that of a continental desert or bush-steppe. There are three 

 tall species of cacti which grow scattered among the shrubs in 

 some places, or in others grow in closely crowded groups such as 

 one can not see on the mainland north of Sinaloa or Zacatecas. 

 The commonest shrubs of the Jamaican deserts are species of 

 Acacia {A. macracaniha, A. Farnesiana, A. tortuosa), the last 

 two of which are also found in the deserts of Mexico and Texas, 

 and several species of Cassia. The commonest and most con- 



