NO. 2 GENTRY : LAND PLANTS 19 



Anacapa, there may be occasional trees in the canyons, and where there 

 is a continuous supply of running water there may be a riparian com- 

 munity with trees or arborescent shrubs. The seaward bluffs have a 

 varied growth of succulents, forbs, suffrutescent perennials, and occa- 

 sional shrubs. Sand dune vegetation, very similar to that of mainland 

 areas, is present on low dunes back of the few sandy beach areas. On 

 the larger islands the protected north and northeast slopes support 

 scattered groves of trees, while Santa Cruz has an extensive area of 

 woodland." 



It is to be expected that such a residual area, representing a con- 

 siderable area of long though interrupted isolation, would have many 

 endemics in its flora. Of the approximately 950 species and varieties 

 that have been catalogued from the ilsands, 80 of them are endemic. The 

 original endemic element was undoubtedly reduced during times of the 

 land bridges and migratory exchanges appear to have been made in both 

 directions. Hence, if the apparent migrants from the islands to the main- 

 land were included, the total island endemics would be about 100 species 

 and varieties. Many of the endemics make up the unique plant com- 

 munities known only on the islands, as the Pinus and the Lyonothamnus 

 associations among the trees, the shrubby or suiifrutescent communities, 

 as the Coreopsis-Artemisia association, the Atriplex-Hemizonia-Lotus- 

 Astragalus community, the Echevaria-Eriogonum-0 puntia community, 

 and the Eriogonum-Eriophyllum association forming a low tangle of 

 suffrutescents. As on the mainland, the grasslands are dominantly com- 

 posed of aggressive introductions and indicate little of the natural virgin 

 climax. 



The most exhaustive flora published on the islands is that of Mills- 

 paugh and Nuttall (1923) on Santa Catalina Island. Subsequent papers 

 have stressed other islands, as Hoffman (1932) and one has recently 

 catalogued the plants from all of the islands (Eastwood 1941). The fol- 

 lowing annotated catalogue is based upon the collections secured by Mr. 

 Francis H. Elmore on voyages of the Velero III of the Allan Hancock 

 Foundation in 1938, 1939, and 1941, as outlined in Table 1. The com- 

 plete itinerary of the Velero III voyages is given by Fraser (1943). On 

 these and several other works as well, the author has drawn in formu- 

 lating the collections. Philip A. Munz, an authority on southern Cali- 

 fornia botany (1935), of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, has 

 read considerately and criticized the manuscript. No new plants are re- 

 ported but the collections confirm and add to the distributional knowl- 

 edge of plants in and about the Channel Islands. 



