THE PALAEOTROPICS 199 



The Seychelles 



The Seychelle archipelago, six hundred miles northeast of 

 Madagascar, comprises forty-five islands lying between 3° 38' 

 and 5° 45' south latitude. The flora is a very distinct one and 

 includes six endemic genera and sixty endemic species. Five of 

 the endemic genera are palms, and one, Northea Seychellana, a 

 tree belonging to the Sapotaceae, was named in honor of Miss 

 Marianne North, who visited the islands in 1883-1884 and who 

 has given an interesting account of her visit, which was especially 

 for the purpose of painting the extraordinary palm, Lodoicea 

 SeycheUarum, which bears the huge double coconut, a well-known 

 botanical curiosity. 1 



The forest is rich in palms, tree-ferns, and screw-pines; and there 

 are a good many trees, one of which, Wormia ferruginea, an 

 endemic species, is especially abundant in the higher mountain 

 forests. Miss North found pitcher plants (Nepenthes) on the top 

 of the higher mountains. A single species is also found in Mada- 

 gascar, and these, as well as some other forms, show an affinity with 

 the Malayan flora. The most striking flowers noted by Miss North 

 were two fine orchids, Angraecum eburneum and Vanilla Phalaen- 

 opsis. 



1 Marianne North, Recollections of a Happy Life, Vol. II., London, 1893. 



