JOHNSTON: FLORA OF MARGARITA ISLAND. 283 



cases the flowers appear before the leaves on shrubs; for example, 

 Cercidium viride, Gliricidia hitea, several Bignonias, Erythrina, 

 Cassia emarginata, and Pedilanthus tithymaloides. 



In pleasing contrast to the plains, the mountain summit is constantly 

 clothed in green vegetation and many blossoms are always to be found. 

 The presence the year round of the moisture-laden clouds accounts for 

 this difference between the mountain top and the plains. The latter 

 have only a few months (August to February) of green vegetation, 

 with the remainder of the season characterized by gray lifeless bushes 

 and trees and by an utter lack of low herbs. 



The foregoing represents in brief the distribution of the plants on 

 Margarita. The discussion has been more suggestive than exhaustive. 

 A thorough exploration of the island according to scientific methods 

 in such work would yield va'nable information not particularly in 

 regard to Margarita but from the point of view of the life history of 

 the plants themselves. As evinced in the above paragraphs the 

 following topics have seemed to the writer of paramount importance 

 in considering the plant distribution: occurrence of the plants in 

 regions of different vegetative conditions; occurrence in groups or 

 scatteringly; and the effect of the seasons both on the occurrence of 

 the plants in different regions and on the abundance of the plants. 



Composition of the Flora. 



In order to compare the vegetation of Margarita and Coche with that 

 of the adjacent regions in as thorough a way as is desirable, it is neces- 

 sary to have a full understanding of the composition of the vegetation. 



The purpose of studying the flora of these islands from an economic 

 as well as a purely scientific point of ^^ew, has necessitated cataloguing 

 the cultivated plants. These may or may not be native of the region 

 but in either case they are so widely cultivated in all of tropical America 

 and some of them commonly in the East Indies that for the purposes 

 of comparing floras they must be entirely disregarded. Of those that 

 come under this head the following have been included in the catalogue 

 of plants. Although they are not all cultivated in Margarita yet they 

 are in many other places (see Alph. De CandoUe, Geographic bot., 

 vol. 2, p. 981-983): 



Achras Zapota Ananas sativa 



Agave americana Annona reticulata 



Anacardivun occidentale Annona squamosa 



