724 EEPOET— 1888. 



4. On the Flora of Madagascar. By the Rev. R. Baeox. 



The London Missionary Society, in whose service the author is engaged in the 

 island of Madagascar, encourages its missionaries, by a distinct clause in its Regula- 

 tions, to take up some special study as a relaxation from the usual routine of mis- 

 sionar}^ life. He has been led, for various reasons, to give a portion of his time to 

 the study of botany, and gives this morning a brief abstract of a somewhat 

 lengthy paper on the flora of Madagascar, which he has compiled from numerous 

 notes and observations made during several years past. 



He need not here enter into detail in regard to the size and physical structure of 

 Madagascar. Suffice it to say that the island is nearly four times the size of 

 England and Wales. The great mountain-chain of the country, which in its 

 highest point reaches to about 8,500 feet, runs in a longitudinal direction probably 

 for 700 or 800 miles, but is much nearer to the east than to the west coast. The 

 eastern half of the island, speaking roughly, consists of crystalline schists, specially 

 gnei.ss invaded by granitic and basaltic bosses and masses, with numerous recently 

 extinct volcanoes. These schists possess all the characters of Archaean rocks, and 

 probably are such for the most part, though it is not unlikely that they are com- 

 mingled with highly metamorphosed Cambrian or other palaeozoic rocks. The 

 western half of the island seems to be composed mainly of secondary and Tertiary 

 rocks, and chiefly those of the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene systems. 



A considerable part of the island is covered by primeval forest. On the 

 eastern side there is a forest which extends probably 800 miles from north to south 

 almost, if not entirely, without a break, and which, according to some, is continued 

 round the island in a complete or almost complete ring, a statement which I 

 imagine requires verification. In the western part of the island there are un- 

 doubtedly extensive forests running in a northerly and southerly direction, but 

 how far these are continuous is not yet known. The forest in the eastern part of 

 the island is probably from 60 to 80 miles wide in its greatest breadth, and 

 occupies fully two-fifths, if not one half, of the total eastern area. If we take into 

 account the whole of the island, probably about one-eighth part of it is covered 

 with trees. 



It is grievous to relate, however, that the forests of Madagascar are being de- 

 stroyed in the most ruthless and wholesale manner by the natives. Every year 

 thousands of acres of country are cleared, the trees being burned to the ground, 

 and that for no other purpose than to provide ashes as manure for a mere handful 

 or two of beans or a few cobs of Indian corn. The author once came across a passage 

 which had been cut through the forest for a long distance for no other purpose than 

 to allow space for the dragging of a tombstone which had been quarried in the 

 neighbourhood. To make this road no fewer than about 25,000 trees had been cut 

 down! Again, in getting planks for building purposes from the forests, there is 

 most extravagant waste of timber. A tree is feUed, and the native woodmen, not 

 having saws, set to work with their hatchets on each side of it until the timber is 

 reduced to the required thickness, and thus each tree, however large, supplies but 

 a single plank. It is truly lamentable to see how, in these and other ways, the 

 Malagasy forests, containing, as they do, valuable timber, are being consigned to 

 destruction. 



There are now known in Madagascar about 3,440 species of flowering plants, so 

 that it may probably be said that the great bulk of the plants found in the island 

 has been discovered. Of these so large a proportion as four-fifths or probably 

 more are endemic. The list below shows the number of species in the Orders most 

 largely represented, and their percentage of the total flora. 



If we include the ferns, they would stand second on the list with a percentage 

 of 8-4. 



The author has long been convinced that the flora of Madagascar may be 

 divided into three Regions. These Regions run in a longitudinal direction, follow- 

 ing approximately the longer axis of the island. It is proposed to call them 

 Eastern, Central, and Western (see Map). Of the 1,977 species of plants whose 

 localities have been determined there are — 



