INTRODUCTION ix 



As regards the fungi, still incompletely known, it is impossible to 

 determine, in the cases of many species, whether they are natives or intro- 

 duced, but a large proportion of those known appear to be indigenous. 

 Some, which are parasitic on cultivated plants, have probably been in- 

 troduced. 



Some native species have almost certainly been exterminated, certain 

 of the older records indicating that this is the case. On the other hand, 

 a few species appear to have reached Bermuda recently through natural 

 agencies. 



The number of introduced and completely or partially naturalized 

 species, those which have reached Bermuda through human activities, at 

 least here so regarded, and have perpetuated themselves, is about 303. In 

 some cases, it is now impossible to determine whether some plants have 

 reached Bermuda naturally or otherwise, and in these cases the refer- 

 ence to one or the other group has been made by considerations of occur- 

 rence, taken together with Lefroy's opinions of forty-five years ago. Some 

 of the naturalized species are so abundant and appear so much like native 

 plants in their habitats that if it were not for definite records proving 

 their introduction by man they would be taken for native plants. 



The number of species of cultivated plants which either grow now in 

 Bermuda or are recorded as having grown here, described or mentioned in 

 the following pages, is 864. Additions to these are made from time to 

 time, principally by flower-lovers, and doubtless many have been grown 

 of which no record has been kept; some probably exist which it has not 

 been my privilege to observe, and, doubtless, many grown in previous years 

 have disappeared. 



In this book will be found descriptions and illustrations of all the 

 kinds of native and more or less completely naturalized, introduced plants 

 of the phyla Spermatophyta (seed-bearing plants), Pteridophyta (ferns 

 and fern allies), and Bryophyta (mosses and hepatics) known to inhabit 

 Bermuda, being 519 species in all. Accounts, not illustrated, are given of 

 the lichens, fungi and algae. 



A bibliography, a glossary, and an account of botanical collections 

 made in Bermuda are appended. 



Botanical Classification accomplishes the grouping of plants inlo cate- 

 gories based on degrees of similarity. All individual plants which resemble 

 each other closely constitute a species; thus, all the Bermuda palmetto trees 

 form the species Sahal Blackhurnianwm ; many species are composed of 

 groups of individuals resembling each other still more closely and often 

 differing very little from each other, and these are termed races; thus, all 

 cabbage plants form the species Brassica oleracea, but there are many kinds 

 (races) of cabbage. Coherent series of species constitute genera, thus the 

 genus Sabal is composed of about a dozen different kinds of palmettoes. 



