PHYTOGEOGRAPHICAL REMARKS. 489 



Miconias are very common and Vltex multiflora throws its blue flowers on 

 the water, while in March the yellow fruits of Spondias lutea swim down the 

 river in large number. Also herbs occupy a first place here, among which 

 Noisettia orchidiflora and species of Aciotis. 



This description of the vegetation is founded for the greater part on 

 observations by the present author during his journey along the Saramacca 

 R. But also different works on Surinam have been used, of which may be 

 mentioned Kappler's "Surinam" and Martin's "Bericht iiber eine Reise nach 

 Niederlandisch West-Indien und darauf gegriindete Studien," while of course 

 the study of the various collections formed the base for the enumeration 

 of the species, constituting the different types of vegetation. 



Distribution of the species and comparison with neighbouring 

 districts. 



From the list at the end of the systematic part it appears that a total 

 number of 2101 vascular plants from Surinam are known. When estimating 

 the value of this figure one has in the first place to ask to what extent it 

 represents the number of species actually occurring in Surinam. It is not 

 easy to answer this question. The list of species known from British Guyana 

 up to 1848 in the third part of Schomburgk' s "Reisen in Britisch Guyana", 

 the "Catalogue des plantes de la Guyane francaise" of Sagot and Martius' 

 Flora Brasiliensis form the material for comparison by means of which one 

 may try to answer this question. Schomburgk enumerates nearly 3500 vascular 

 plants, which number has been materially increased, however, by later 

 additions from the collections of Jenman and others. The number of plants 

 enumerated by Sagot is smaller than that known for Surinam The number 

 of species of the Amazon region, on the other hand, is much larger (the 

 exact number is unknown to me, but it certainly is many times 2101). Now 

 there are of course two factors causing these differences, firstly the greater 

 or smaller number of species of the neighbouring districts and secondly 

 the more or less accurate knowledge of the flora. The first factor is cer- 

 tainly the most important when comparing the Surinamian flora with that 

 of British Guyana. This latter country, namely, offers a much greater variety 

 of sites to the vegetation. High mountains and extensive savanahs which 

 do not occur in Surinam must cause the number of species to increase so 

 considerably that British Guyana will always greatly surpass Surinam in 

 wealth of the flora. But also the more accurate knowledge of the flora is a 

 factor which must not be underrated. A traveller like Schomburgk who 

 crossed the country in all directions for 3 or 4 years will naturally collect 

 many more species than the numerous collectors who visited Surinam for a 

 relatively short time only. For the latter were mostly entirely unacquainted 

 with the flora and always began again with the commonest plants. Schom- 

 burgk however, became thoroughly acquainted with the flora during his 



