MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS 



241 



in association with other plants from the beach. It grows, often 

 in abundance, on nearly all the islands ; but it did not come under 

 my notice either on Round Cay or on Eastern Cay. Its absence 

 from the last-named island, which is the most weatherly of the group, 

 may be partly due to its use for firewood by visiting parties, either 

 from Grand Turk or from passing schooners, since it thrives on the 

 neighbouring Pear Cay, which from the difficulty of landing is much 

 less frequently visited. But it may be that hurricanes have assisted 

 in its banishment from this cay, as is illustrated by the destruction 

 executed amongst its numbers on Greater Sand Cay, as noticed below. 

 On Pear Cay it displayed a singular adaptation to the wind-pressure, 

 the trunk and primary branches being prone and rooting in the sand, 

 whilst the leafy branches alone rose erect three or four feet into the 

 air. On Greater Sand Cay I found it fairly well distributed in 

 February 1911 ; but my boatmen told me that before the last 

 hurricane of 1908 it was much more frequent — a statement confirmed 

 by the number of dead prostrate trunks still to be seen on the surface 

 over the island, the material being utilised for firewood by small 

 sailing craft trading in these seas. The shrub is frequent around 

 the coasts of Grand Turk, and in places where the beach vegetation 

 borders on the mangrove belt one may sometimes see a curious 

 intermingling of the plants of the two formations, Suriana maritima 

 with other beach plants growing amongst the mangroves. Though 

 preferring a sandy soil, where it grows in colonies, the plant also 

 grows well on rocky ground, but only as individuals. 



On the Turks Islands there is evidently from some cause or another 

 great loss of seeds. In two localities I found that 95 per cent, of 

 the seeds or seed-like fruits gathered from the plants were empty, 

 whilst of those picked up from the sand beneath the bushes 30 to 

 40 per cent, had sound kernels. The seeds, which are about 3J mm. 

 long and broadly conical, have a dark wrinkled hairy skin, which, 

 however, they soon lose in the beach- drift, and then they are about 

 3 mm. in size and have a smooth reddish surface. In appearance 

 they look a little like grape-seeds, and no doubt their hardness 

 might fit them for dispersal in the stomachs of birds; but their 

 great floating powers offer a much readier explanation of the world- 

 wide distribution of the species. Dr. Millspaugh regards the seeds 

 as dispersed through the medium of the feet of sea-birds ; but the 

 currents aided by the drifting log and floating pumice have doubtless 

 done most of the work of distribution. There is nothing in the 

 character of the dryish fruits on the plant to attract frugivorous 

 birds. 



Hemsley in his list of plants dispersed by oceanic currents includes 

 this species (Chall. Bot., I., 42, 48); and Schimper, who especially 

 investigated the buoyancy of the seeds, came to the same conclusion. 

 I may add that the term " nucule is applied to the seed-like fruits ; 

 but they are for purposes of distribution " seeds," and I will follow 

 Schimper in this respect. They lie in numbers on the sand near the 

 shrubs; and in the Turks Islands they are prominent amongst the 

 small drift derived from local plants and sorted out on the beach by 

 wind and wave. In this fine drift the seed-like fruits of Suriana 



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