82 CARL SKOTTSBERG 



Appendix. 



Ferns collected by the Albatross Expedition. 



Asplenium adiantoides (L.) C. Chr. var squ amnio sum Q. Chr. — » Crater 

 oi Rano Kao, near foot, scarce* (no. 41!). 



Asplenium obtusatum Forst. — »Scattering, near shore, on rocks» (no. 

 1!); »crater of Rano Kao, not abundant» (no. 45!) 



Dryopteris parasitica (L.) OK. — »About inside of crater of Rano 

 Kao» (no. 37!); »in cave at summit of Rano Kao» (no. 38!). 



Microlepia strigosa (Thunb.) Presl. — » About rocks in all places where 

 moisture is available* (no. 2!); »from crater of Rano Kao, abundant, the com- 

 mon fern of the island* (nos. 39! 42!). 



Polypodiuni phymatodes L. — no. 22! »summit of Ratio Kao» (no. 43!); 

 » along large rocks near bottom of crater of Rano Kao» (no. 44!). 



Vittaria elongata S\v. — » Summit of Ratio Kao, scarce* (no. 40!). 



The flora of Easter Island is very poor. As in similar cases, it is some- 

 times difficult to tell if a certain plant is indigenous or not. If the old authors 

 are trustworthy, cultivation once extended over a large part of the ground, so 

 that several species, members of the original flora, may have become extermin- 

 ated, and we have seen that Sophora toromiro probably goes to share their 

 fate. The small copses said to have existed in the time of Cook may have 

 sheltered some herbs that disappeared later. Unfortunately, there are no high 

 mountains, but the host of weeds is able to sweep over the entire area. Many 

 introduced species play an important part in the plant associations of the island, 

 which I shall describe briefly in another paper. Later, I shall also discuss the 

 affinities and probable origin of the flora; this time I find it proper to confine 

 myself to the following remarks. 



Of wild phanerogams, 30 have been reported, out of these 12 for the 

 first time. Four are considered to be endemic (Axonopus paschalis, Stipa horri- 

 dida, Danthonia paschalis, Sophora toromiro); three (Cypcrus vegctus, Sciipus 

 riparius, Polygonum acuminatum) are common to Easter Island and America 

 but (with the exception of Scirpus, reported from Hawaii) not found in other 

 parts of the Pacific; the majority or 23 species are Australian and Polynesian, 

 many of them wide-spread tropical or subtropical plants. If we add the 12 

 ferns, of which 2 are endemic and 10 Polynesian or pantropical, the total 

 number of indigenous vascular plants amounts to 42, of which 6 are endemic, 



