THE VEGETATION OF THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 839 



1.8 cm across, with a thin, sweetish and mealy mesocarp and produced in exuberance. 

 They require one year to ripen so that fruit-stands with green and with red drupes 

 are found simultaneously on the same tree. Jiiania is dioecious. As mature 

 the drupes stay on for a long time and fall to the ground near the mother tree; if 

 shaken by a strong wind they may of course be hurled some little distance. 

 More than once we saw a tree surrounded by a growth of baby chontas. Juania 

 is a stately, straight-stemmed palm up to lo or 12, by exception as much as 

 15 m tall with a stem diameter of 15 — 20 cm; on a fallen, rather small specimen, 

 only 7 m long, 21 cm was noted, another fallen trunk was 12 m long and 16 cm 

 in diameter. In fully developed specimens the trunk has become cleansed from 

 the dead leaves right to the top; a young tree, 4.5 m tall, still bore numerous 

 dead leaves. Bark bright dark green, polished, ringed with whitish leaf scars. Leaves 

 to 3.5 m long; they have been described in detail by Johow. Spathe i — 2 m 

 long. No observations were made on the seasonal development. A specimen 

 planted in Mr. Charpentier's garden in 1903 was 5 m tall in April, 1917, and 

 estimated by the owner to be at least 20 years old. According to the same 

 source 2 leaves are developed annually. If this is true, the flowering specimen 

 illustrated on PI. 60:2 would be well over lOO years and the fruiting tree on 

 PI. 61 not much younger. Seen in full bloom during January; fruit is found 

 throughout the year. The large yellowish-white male panicles are rather showy 

 (PI. 60:1) and fragrant. The female flowers are almost scentless. 

 Numerous mature seeds were sown, but none germinated. 



Local tree species of slig?it importance. 

 Sophora fernandeziana (Phil.) Skottsb., "Mayu-monte". Papilionaceae. Scatte- 

 red through the lower montane forests of Masatierra, west to Quebrada Juanango 

 and extending from about 200 to about 450 m, always very local. A small to 

 middle-sized tree; Johow p. 88 says "alcanza una altura de 5 metros", but on 

 p. 246 it is mentioned among the species that reach a maximum height of 10 m; 

 specimens as tall as that are, I believe, rare, and the trunk rarely surpasses 20 or 

 25 cm in thickness. Bark about 3 mm thick, dark brownish gray, when old squam- 

 ose. Wood very hard and durable, which made Johow remark that, unfortunately, 

 it can be used for small objects only; his opinion that the island species is ident- 

 ical with the common mainland species may serve as an excuse. (All indigenous 

 trees and shrubs of Juan Fernandez are endemic.) In April, Sophora was clad 

 in bright green foliage developed during the summer, the vegetative long-shoots 

 ending in a naked bud, covered with a dense, white to rusty brown, velvety 

 tomentum; below these shoots were floral dwarf-shoots bearing i or 2 leaves and 

 ending in a raceme covered with the same kind of tomentum, each flower-bud 

 enclosed in a boat-shaped bract (Figs. 9 h, i). In August, the leaflets are shed, 

 leaving the rhachis standing, while new leaves are unfolded; fig. 9 k shows that 

 racemes are developed in the uppermost axils. Growth continues all through 

 the summer. Sophora flowers in early spring, presumably in September — October; 

 in December only young pods were observed. Ripe seeds were collected in the 

 beginning of April. The golden yellow flowers are quite showy. 



