36o 



SKOTTSBERG 



the first to note the predominance of trees on oceanic islands, tried to explain 

 it as a result of natural selection. SlNNOTT and Baii.EV's criticism is absolutely 

 C()nvincin<^. 



The authors also paid attention to The Ancient Flora of Antarctica, p. 592: 



It seems to be a reasonably safe conclusion that all genera commonly designated 

 as "Antarctic"' from their confinement to the temperate region of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, were iiiiiabitants of the ancient Antarctic continent. 



The authors made an attempt to reconstruct this flora and came to the con- 

 clusion that "two thirds of its endemic dicotyledons were woody plants" (p. 599). 



In the authors' opinion most of the herbaceous vegetation originated in the 

 north; this may be so because in the latter part of the Tertiary period, with the 

 increasing differentiation of climatic regions, the temperate and cold-resistant flora 

 is supposed to have taken j)ossession of large areas, but these were concentrated 

 in the north; excej)t the Antarctic continent there was not much land in the 

 far south. 



Several authors have expressed the same opinion as SlNNOTT and Bailev. 

 Irms(IIi:k (//;) was convinced that most of the primitive angiosperms were trees 

 and that the relation between tropical and temperate genera and species point in 

 this direction; to take one example: it is generally acknowledged that the her- 

 baceous, mainly temperate fanfily Cruciferae descends from woody tropical Cap- 

 paridaceae (IkMSCllKR might have called attention to the miniature Lepidiuni trees 

 in Hawaii): 



Auch sonst ist die Abstammung gemiissigter Sippen von tropischen nachgewiesen 

 worden. . . . Diesc Gegeniiberstellung der gemiissigten und tropischen Sipj)en lehrt aber 

 auch ohnc wciteres, dass mit der Anpassung von Formen an die extratroi)ischen Zonen 

 zuglcicii (lie F m priigung des Ty ])us des H o 1 z ge vviic h ses in den des Krautes 

 vor sich ging, somit let/, tere als die j linger en Formen die Abkomm- 

 1 i n g e \ n 1 1 o 1 /. g e w ii c h s e n s i n d (l. 2 oq). 



Dass (lie Thcorie dcr Abstammung der iibrigen Wuchsformen von der Gestalt des 

 troj)is( hen liaunics immer mchr an l>oden gewinnt, geht zum Beispiel aus dem Buche 

 von j'.cws hers or: "The mcgatherm hygrophilous forest of the tropics is probably the 

 most an( ient t\ pc of habitat . . . and most recent of all (life-forms) is the annual type" 

 (II. 321). 



The investigation of Ji:ki"RKV and ToKRKV [144) led to the conclusion that 

 "the origin of the herbaceous type in dicotyledons is from woody or arboreal 

 forms", and S 1 1 x K\\ i:i.L, in his monograph of Chacnaciis [2^g\ Compositae, 33 

 sp.), states that, "within a family or genus, woody perennial species are more 

 j)rimitive than herbaceous annual s|)ecies '. An evolution in the reversed direction 

 is, however, postulated by HlKl iix.sox [140. I. 4) in the Polycarpicae. He regards 

 the herbaceous Kanunculaccae as the most j)rimitive; a woody structure is, in this 

 order, secondarw The current oj)inion is that the woody Magnoliaceae are among 

 the oldest living angiosperms. 



The rosette trees. '\\\(i common t\'|)e of this interesting growth-form is char- 

 acterized by a candelabrum like mode of branching, the two or three (rarely more) 

 innovations situated on practically the same level at the base of a terminal in- 



