378 



C. SKOTTSBERG 



Table VL 

 Percentage of \v()ocl\- and licrbaceous species in Juan Fernandez. 



Indi.utMious species .... 



Not eiitleniic 



ICndeinie, ^enus not eiuleniic . . 71 

 Als;) tlie <'enus endemic . . 



Four species suffruticose. 



comparison, and the Juan hVrnandez Islands were regarded as supporting their 

 h>-|)othesis; this, to judge from tlie table, they certainly do. The five woody 

 non-endemic species are liiiipctnDu nibnun and Saliconiia fruticosa (low, erect 

 shrubs), and Myrtcola unnimularia, Riibiis gcoidcs and Calystegia tuguriorimi 

 (trailing). 



The rosette tree form is observed in 16 genera with together 31 species, 

 belonging to si.x families, Boraginaceae, Bromeliaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, 

 Plantaginaceae and Umbelliferae; the palm Juania is of course excluded. As I 

 have paid special attention to them in another paper (-^J/), where they were 

 well illustrated, no more will be said here. 



Annual and biennial herbs, the therophytes of Raunklkr, are not completely 

 lacking, but they are ver\' few: Cardamiiie chenopodiifolia, C/iae/otropis (2 species), 

 Par'utaria, Plauiaoo tyuncata, I'etrao^oma and Urtica Masafuerae. In 2^1 I listed 

 Cliartntropis among the hemicryj)tophytes; they give the impression of lasting 

 more than one year antl are found green at all seasons, and the same may be 

 true of Parictaria. I am not at all sure that PUxutago iruncala is native. The 

 Caydanu}ic has been seen twice, last time in 1872, the Crtica not since 1854, 

 when it was discoxercd. It may be that it is an ephemerous plant and disappears 

 in early spring, a season when very few botanists have visited the islands. 



Thus, the "oceanic peculiarities" are all there, but possibly some of them 

 can be exj)lained otherwise. iMulemism of a very high degree within a small 

 area is no monopoly of isolated islands; it will be sufficient to mention the Cape 

 fiorii or southwestern Australia. The large proj)ortion of woody plants can be 

 understood if the islands became isolated before the myriads of herbs, particularly 

 the annuals of Central Chile, had evolved. (iRlSKr,.\(ll's "Clavija" and related 

 life forms are not confuied to oceanic islands; if my interpretation of this mor- 

 phological t\'pe as an evidence of anti(juity is correct, we can understand why 

 it takes such a pronuncnt part in old island fioras. The reason why therophytes 

 are almost wanting is not climatic. This is amply |)roved by the innumerable 

 anniuil weeds introduced with the traffic and thriving only too well. The climate 

 is of a modified Mediterranean tyj)e, and from a purely climatic viewpoint we 

 should ex{)ect a large percentage of native annuals and biennials; this question 

 was discussed at some length in ^-r/. 827-830. Chile has hundreds of endemic 



