7- The Phanerogams of the Juan Fernandez Islands. 



By 

 CARL SKOTTSBERG. 



With II plates (nos. 10 — 20) and 39 text figures. 



The compilation of a phanerogamic flora of Juan Fernandez has required 

 more time and labour than could be anticipated. The general belief was, I 

 dare say, that the higher flora of the group was very well known. That the 

 writer did not share this opinion is evident from the fact that floristic investiga- 

 tion was one of the principal objects of the voyage in 1916 — 17. My short 

 visit in 1908 made me believe that the remote island of Masafuera was a 

 promising field of research. The results communicated below will show, I think, 

 that I was not disappointed. Masatierra, where quite a number of botanists 

 have been, had more in store for us than we expected. There were many 

 places of difficult access only visited by BERTERO, eighty years ago. Our 

 knowledge of the distribution of the species in the islands was, in many cases 

 at least, quite vague, as the earlier collectors seldom recorded the exact localities 

 on their herbarium labels. Several species had been found once or twice only 

 and remained little known. 



The starting point for my studies was of course the well known work of 

 F. Johow. But I had not advanced very far when I found that a reexamina- 

 tion of many of the types was urgently needed. The majority of these had 

 been discovered by BERTERO, and the discrepance between the writer and 

 JOHOW concerning several of the species is partly due to the fact that Johow 

 had no occasion to study Bertero's specimens. In other instances his species 

 conception is a little too wide. I found it necessary to examine practically 

 every type of the endemic plants. The collections of Santiago (Germain, 

 Philippi, Reed a. o. in the herbarium of Museo Nacional, and Johow's private 

 collection) and Kew (Douglas, Scouler, Bertero, Downton, Moseley a. o.) 

 were studied during longer visits to these places; other material was kindly 

 sent for inspection from Berlin, Kew, Paris, Lund, Stockholm and Upsala. 



As usual, several collegues have assisted me in the determination of my 

 plants. Dr. R. PlLGER, Berlin-Dahlem, revised the Gramineae in collaboration 

 with the writer, Dr. C. LlNDMAN, Stockholm, determined some Poae, Rev. Dr. 



