124 FLORA OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND ANDROS 



most commonly met with were the gum elemi {Bur sera Simaruba), 

 the poison wood (Metopium), the wild cassada {Dipholis salicifolia) , 

 the horseflesh {Lysiloma paucifoliola) , and the Madeira {Swietenia 

 Mahogani). As a rule the trees were comparatively small, not more 

 than a few inches in diameter. The largest and tallest were seen in 

 what was called the ''high coppet" near Deep Creek, Andros. One 

 horseflesh there measured five and a half feet in circumference at a 

 distance of four feet from the ground, another six feet four inches, 

 while the largest mahogany seen was between two and three feet in 

 diameter. Common among the underbrush were the cockspur thorn 

 (Pisonia aculeata), the chawstick (Gouania Domingensis), hardhead 

 (Phyllanthus epiphyllanthus) , Erithalis fruticosa, and Duranta repens. 

 Among the climbing plants the dream vine (Echites umhellata), 

 Triopteris rigida, and Ipomoea sinuata were common. The coppet 

 was usually quite difficult to penetrate, the trees being mostly small 

 and close together and the underbrush dense. 



The third region was the " pine-yard " or pine barrens. This was a 

 comparatively level region occupying the interior of both islands and 

 covered almost exclusively with the Bahaman pine {Pinus Bahamen- 

 sis). Where the ground was a little elevated there were smafl coppets 

 or islands, as it were, of angiospermous trees ; where it was lower and 

 more moist, occasional clumps of palmetto varied the monotony. The 

 Bahaman pines are tall and slender and do not branch until quite near 

 the top. The tallest we saw was about seventy or eighty feet in height, 

 and the largest was four feet and nine inches in circumference. They 

 do not grow close together, but are usually from ten to twenty feet 

 apart even when small. A tall brake known as the ''May-pole" 

 {Pteridium caudatum) was very characteristic of the pine belt. It 

 often formed almost impenetrable thickets six or seven feet in height, 

 while at one place on Andros we found it growing nine feet in height. 

 The cinecord {Acacia choriophylla) was common in the pines, as 

 were also, among the lower plants, Ascyrum hypericoides, Tetrazygia 

 bicolor, Linum Bahamense, Ernodea littoralis, and Vernonia Bahamen- 

 sis. The showy sedge {Dichromena colorata) and the purple orchid 

 (Bletia verecunda) were abundant in the pines and were also occasion- 

 ally found on the savannas. In many parts of the pine barrens on 

 Andros there was no underbrush, nothing but a coarse grass called 

 "bed-grass" (a species of Andropogon), relieved here and there by 



