DISTRIBUTION OF SPHAGNUM AND CAREX 347 



Littoral, has no connection through the Peat-mosses with either 

 Europe or Asia. The species concerned is S. pulchricoma, which is 

 widely spread in America (United States, Equatorial Andes, Brazil, 

 Paraguay, etc.), and occurs also on the west side of Lake Tanganyika 

 in Central Africa. With the exception of its single African habitat 

 it is, as far as is known, exclusively a New World species. 

 Evidently before full weight can be attached to its sporadic 

 occurrence in Africa, the matter would require further elucidation. 



Sphagnum and Caeex in Australia and New Zealand. — There 

 is a good deal of parallelism between the behaviour of Sphagnum 



Distribution of the Australian, Tasmanian, and New Zealand 

 Species of Carex and Sphagnum 







Endemic 

 Species 



Distribution of the non 

 Endemic Species 





Species common to 

 Australia, Tasmania, 

 and New Zealand 





Total number 

 of Species 



Number 



Percentage 



Asia 



Europe 



North America 



South America 1 



Africa (south) 



Japan 



Australia, Tasmania, 

 New Zealand 



Australia, Tasmania 



Australia, New 

 Zealand 



Tasmania, New 

 Zealand 



Carex : — 





























Australia . . 



28 



9 



32 



15 



5 



5 



3 



1 



13 



7 



1 



3 





Tasmania . 



9 







5 



3 



2 



3 



1 



5 



7 



1 





1 



New Zealand with 

 the islands . 



42 



27 



64 



10 



6 



6 



5 



1 



9 



7 





3 



1 



New Zealand alone 



41 



24 



59 



10 



6 



6 



4 



1 



9 



7 





3 



1 



Combined region . 



61 



40 



66 



18 



8 



8 



6 



2 



15 











Sphagnum: — 





























Australia . 



24 



13 



54 



6 



5 



5 



1 





6 



3 



2 







Tasmania . 



12 



5 



42 



2 



2 



2 







2 



3 



2 







New Zealand with 

 the islands . 



19 



11 



58 



5 



5 



5 



1 





5 



3 









New Zealand alone 



17 



9 



53 



5 



5 



5 



1 





5 



3 









Combined region . 



42 



34 



81 



8 



7 



7 



2 





8 











The above table illustrates three of the main features of the Carex and Sphagnum 

 floras of the Australian and New Zealand region — 



( 1 ) The degree of endemism ; 



(2) The distribution of the non-endemic species outside the area concerned; 



(3) The connections between Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, that is to 



say, the number of species they have in common. 



1 The southern part of South America. 



