FLORA OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND ANDROS 125 



the crimson flowers of Ipomosa repanda. As one approached the 

 western edge of the pines, the ground became less rocky, the trees 

 smaller and smaller, and the palmettoes more numerous until one 

 finally emerged on either swash or savannas. 



The savannas, constituting a fourth distinct botanical region, were 

 found only on Andros. They were level prairie-like stretches, lying, as 

 a rule, between the pines and the swash. They were most common in 

 the northwestern part of the island. The ground was not rocky and 

 was covered, for the most part, with a coarse sedge called ^'saw-grass" 

 (Cladium Jamaicense) ; there were also occasional clumps of palmetto 

 or brier tree (Terminalia spinosa). This region proved excellent 

 botanizing ground, and by far the greater number of the plants found 

 there were met with nowhere else. Flaveria linearis, Polygala Boy- 

 kinii, Eustoma exallafum, Aletris bracteata, Gyrostachys tortilis, and 

 Gerardia purpurea were common and in some places Limodorum 

 tuberosum, Buchnera elongata, and Samolus ebracteatus. 



The fifth plant region was the "swash." On Andros this region, 

 as has been said, was very extensive and comprised hundreds of square 

 miles. Here the eroded coral rock, such a prominent feature of the 

 coppet and the pine barrens, was replaced by soft, calcareous mud, in 

 some places more or less hardened, in others very soft. There were 

 numerous ponds and lakes in this region which we were told became 

 connected in wet seasons, making a network of waterways navigable 

 by small boats for many miles. We were there in a comparatively dry 

 season, and the ponds were very shallow, having about three inches of 

 water and eighteen inches of marl. 



The scenery was monotonous and desolate. In many places, as 

 far as the eye could reach, the ground seemed perfectly flat and covered 

 with small mangroves, the salt-bush {Avicennia nitida), and a low 

 form of buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta), none more than a few feet 

 in height. The plants were in reality quite scattered and a consider- 

 able distance apart, but seen at a distance, the effect was that of a 

 smooth expanse of lawn. Here and there a dark line of pines showed 

 on the horizon or one caught the gleam of water, but as a rule only 

 clumps of palmettoes or a few shrubs varied the monotony. In some 

 places, especially near the creeks, palmettoes were abundant, the 

 most common being the silver thatch {Thrinax Bahamensis), the 

 hog cabbage {Cyclospathe Northropi), and the saw-tooth cabbage 



