MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS 



231 



birds in distant islands of the tropical Pacific, as in Hawaii and Fiji, 

 but the two world-ranging shore plants, Sccevola Kcenigii and Sc. 

 Plumieri, which owe their wide dispersion mainly to the currents, 

 but also to some extent to birds. The great increase in the range 

 due to the capacity for dispersal by currents is well illustrated by 

 these two strand species of Sccevola, there being but little probability 

 that other species of the genus possess fruits capable of floating 

 unharmed for long periods in the sea. 



It is not likely that the buoyancy which Krause assumes on 

 structural grounds for the fruits of four littoral Australian species 

 of Sccevola can be very marked, since none of them are known from 

 outside regions and three are confined to West Australia. Yet the 

 principle involved may be correct, and we may have here reproduced 

 the behaviour of Terminalia, as described by Schimper in his book 

 on the Indo-Malayan strand flora (p. 180). In this genus, although 

 the fruits of several inland species possessed floating powers asso- 

 ciated with buoyant tissue in their coverings, the fruits with by far 

 the greatest floating capacity and with the greatest development of 

 buoyant tissue were those of Terminalia katappa, the only character- 

 istic shore species and the one most widely spread. 



I will now deal more especially with the American and African 

 shore plant, Sccevola Plumieri, contrasting it as regards its modes of 

 dispersal with the Asiatic and Pacific littoral species, Sc. Kcenigii. 

 Having been for many years familiar with the Asiatic species, in 

 Java, Polynesia and the Keeling Islands, I have been at length able 

 to compare its behaviour with its sister species of the Atlantic 

 region. This was accomplished in the Turks Islands at the south- 

 east end of the Bahamas, where I enjoyed abundant opportunities of 

 studying the plant. 



As regards its distribution in the West Indian region the data 

 show that Sccevola Plumieri is spread over the Bahamas and the 

 Greater and Lesser Antilles; but apparently it is absent from 

 Trinidad. It extends north to South Florida and reaches Bermuda. 

 In the Florida sand-keys it does not seem to be at all frequent, since 

 Mr. Lansing found it on only four of the nineteen keys examined, 

 and in only one of them did it exist in any quantity. The shrub, it 

 may be added, is much less hardy than that of Sc. Kcenigii, and it 

 evidently has greater difficulty in establishing itself on a fresh coast. 

 It is noteworthy in this respect that in March 1895 Dr. Millspaugh 

 found only a single individual on the Alacran Shoals (Plantce 

 Utowance). 



In the Turks Islands, where it attains usually a height of from two 

 to two and a half feet, it is known as the Ink-berry plant, on account 

 of its black, juicy fruits of the size of a large cherry. Its distribution 

 in this small group is irregular and varies from year to year, a result 

 due to the destructive action of hurricanes in the smaller keys or 

 cays, and to its being much appreciated by cattle and goats in the 

 larger islands, the whole plant being often devoured. I was informed 

 by a resident that it thrives only on beaches to which animals cannot 

 get access. Compared with the more woody plants of the beaches, 

 such as Tournefortia gnaphalodes and Suriana maritirna, these more 



