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THE BOTANY OF ANTIGUA. 

 By L. Eichmond Wheeler, B.Sc.(Lond.). 



These notes have been drawn up at the close of two years 

 residence in Antigua, during wliich I have investigated the plants 

 of the different regions into which the island is divided ; while I 

 have visited practically every island of importance in the Lesser 

 Antilles except Barbados, and so have been able to compare the 

 flora of Antigua with those of the other islands with which 

 Antigua is connected by position and geological considerations. 

 Tlie islands thus visited include St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 

 Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Trinidad ; 

 the last named is, of course, to be considered as part of South 

 America from the scientific standpoint rather than as belonging 

 to the volcanic or calcareous series which form the chain of 

 islands known as the Lesser Antilles. I have also had oppor- 

 tunities of discussion with local botanists, planters, and agricultural 

 ofidcers. 



There is a most regrettable absence of books deahng with the 

 natural history of the islands ; and many valuable papers (most of 

 which are by Americans) on their geology, etc., are difficult of 

 access to a student on the spot. Grisebach's Flora of the British 

 West Indies is still invaluable, and is the only flora dealing with 

 the plants of these islands in a complete way ; but it is very old- 

 fashioned and, in many ways, obsolete, the first and only edition 

 having been published about 1863 ; it also labours under the 

 disadvantage of having been written by a botanist who never 

 visited the West Indies, but had to depend entirely on collections 

 of dried specimens. Fortunately one of these, made by the Eev. 

 Mr. Wullschlagel, of the Moravian Missionary Society, included a 

 large number of Antiguan plants. The admirable and exhaustive 

 researches of the various Agricultural Departments in the West 

 Indies, under the supervision of the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, are entirely concerned with economic crops and 

 agricultural investigations. 



Another difficulty facing the student is the general lack of 

 knowledge of, and interest in, wild plants among the populations of 

 these interesting islands. So these notes must be regarded as 

 incomplete and in need of amplifications and additions for which 

 I should be grateful to any persons with a knowledge of the 

 subject. I have pleasure in acknowledging assistance from Dr. 

 A. B. Rendle, of the British Museum, and from Dr. Tempany and 

 Mr. Jackson, of the Agricultural Department of the Leeward 

 Islands. 



I. Conditions Governing the Distribution and Character 

 OF THE Plants of Antigua. 



A. Geograjjhical. — Antigua lies in latitude 17 N. and longitude 

 61 W., being one of the more northerly islands in the Lesser 

 Antilles. It belongs to the British Crown Colony of the Leeward 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 54. [February, 1916.] e 



