101 
MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION. 
February 13th, 1882. 
Alfred Brothers, F.RA.S., President of the Section, 
in the Chair. 
" List of the Phanerogams of Key West, South Florida, 
mostly observed there in March, 1872,” by J. Cosmo 
Melvill, M.A., F.L.S. 
The flora of this small island is limited, and naturally, to 
a great extent, maritime. In the year 1875 I recorded in 
the Journal of Botany a catalogue of the Algse — it is by no 
means so rich, proportionately, in flowering plants or ferns. 
Key West, which is entirely of coral formation, constitutes 
one of many small reefs or ‘ keys’ which extend from Bis- 
cayne Bay westward to the Tortugas. Of these islets, this, 
which measures some seven miles in length, by one to one 
and a half in breadth, is the only one inhabited, and it is 
not likely that the others would present many botanical 
novelties, though but few of them have been explored. Boca 
Chica, the next island, is separated at low water by only 
a very narrow channel. It is densely wooded, and the 
character of the vegetation is entirely the same. 
The south-western portion of Key West is cultivated, and 
towards the south and south-east, between the town and 
the sea, there are numerous green lanes and shady natural 
avenues, extending for a mile or two, which present a native 
flora of much beauty, though somewhat scanty in actual 
species. 
The northern shores of the island are swampy, and there 
are extensive mangrove flats. It is in this portion that the 
original ‘ scrub 5 forest still remains, and the north-eastern 
shores especially present a deserted appearance* 
