THE VEC.ETATION OK THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 857 



b. Tlie Palmiform type. 



P/iOi-nkoscris pinnata (Bert, ex Dene) Skottsb. Endemic on Masatierra, not 

 uncommon on the steep slopes more or less covered with low trees and shrubs, 

 rarely seen below 400 and ascending to about 800 m; ran<^es from the ridge be- 

 tween the Piedra Agujereada and Laura valleys to the central ridge in Vallc Ingles; 

 also on the upper slopes of Villagra. A small tree, hardly over 4 m tall, the 

 largest specimen seen by us with the hollow trunk 10 cm in diameter. Bark about 

 I mm thick, light brown to gray, densely ringed with prominent leaf scars; old 

 trunks with numerous crustaceous lichens. Leaves large, membranous, pinnate, 

 with deeply forked pinnae (Skottsb. 14. 167, fig. 16). This and its congeners are 

 the only monocarpic ligneous plants in the islands; with regard to Yunquea and 

 Ilespcrogreigia, see these. We do not know how long it takes before the formation 

 of the large panicle ends the life-cycle; probably many years. In 1908 one dead 

 tree was found which had flowered in 1907; it is seen on PI. 10, Skottsb. 2, 

 accompanied by two younger specimens; another, still sterile, tall and presumably 

 old, is shown on Fig. 21. An indication or, as it were, a proof that a long time passes 

 before the flower-stage is reached, is that extremely few specimens flower in the 

 same year, and the panicle is so conspicuous even from a long distance that it 

 cannot fail to be noticed. Johow saw a single tree in bloom during his stay in 

 the islands, and exactly the same happened to us. Flowers Dec. — ^Jan. In August 

 1908 I found the limit between the numerous mature leaves and the resting term- 

 inal bud quite sharp, in April 1917 young leaves were unfolding in rapid suc- 

 cession. Branched specimens are, as stated by Johow, very rare; two cases were 

 noticed by us, one with 2, the other with 3 short branches at the apex. Neither 

 of these plants had flowered. I presume that the apex had been damaged, stimul- 

 ating dormant axillary buds to develop; to make sure, it would have been neces- 

 sary to cut the trees. Seedlings (once an adult spm) were found on Dkksoum or 

 BlecJiniDii cycadifoliuui; one is seen in Fig. 19 f, and a juvenile leaf in 19 g. 



Phoenicoseris berteriana (Dene) Skottsb. Only in the upper wet montane 

 forests of central Masatierra, also collected on the summit of El Vunque, very 

 rare. A little-known species, of the same habit as the former, but smaller. Found 

 with flowers once only, by Bertero. Leaves larger than in the former (Skottsb. 14. 

 167, fig. 17), the juvenile ones simple with only the reniform end-lobe developed. 



Phoenicoseris regia Skottsb. Masafuera, in the highland above the forest, from 

 about 750 to about 1400 m above sea-level, often associated \s\l\i Dicks onia externa 

 and occasionally epiphytic. Probably more frequent in former times, now scarce 

 and more or less confined to places not easily accessible to the goats. Habit as 

 in the former, but more robust (PI. 17: 2, this vol. no. 7); trunk to 1.7 m tall (largest 

 measured 2 m) and 13 cm thick; bark reddish brown, very thin, wood cylinder 

 thin, and of the broad pith only the diaphragms remain. Juvenile leaves to i 1/2 m 

 long, adult to 65 cm. Seedlings as in the former. Flowers unknown; see 1. c. 206. 



Plantago fernandezia Bert. Endemic on Masatierra, only observed above 500 m 

 in the brushwood of the high ridges around Bahia Cumberland and on the summit 

 of El Yunque. Rare. Stem prostrate-ascending-erect, rooting at the lower nodes, 



57 — 516796. The Nat. Hist, of Juan Fernandez and Easter Isl. Vol. II. 



