The Statices of the Canaries 
of the Subsection Nobiles. I. 
BY 
OTTO STAPF, F.L.S. 
Principal Assistant , Herbarium , Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew. 
I N a communication to the Gardeners’ Chronicle of Dec. 17, 1904, Dr. 
G. Perez, of Orotava, called attention to the now complete disappear- 
ance of Statice arborea from its last refuge, adding some very interesting 
remarks on the probability of its having been a hybrid between Statice fruti- 
cans and Statice macrophylla , and the general readiness of the species of the 
subsection Nobiles to hybridize. Since Leopold von Buch 1 declared Statice 
arborea extinct and its subsequent rediscovery, it has, along with its allies, 
repeatedly been quoted as an instance of the vanishing old flora of the 
Canaries. Considerable material and much valuable information regarding 
the Statices of the subsection Nobiles having accumulated at Kew during 
the last few years, almost exclusively through the efforts of Dr. Perez, 
it appeared to me desirable to bring together what we know of the subject. 
Certain questions, as for instance those concerning the oecological and 
biological conditions under which those species still hold their own or 
slowly vanish, can, of course, not be solved satisfactorily at the distance 
and from dry material. Still much may be accomplished in the way of 
preparatory work that cannot be done in the field, and yet is indispensable 
as a sound starting basis for the more fortunate man who is able to work 
in Nature’s own laboratory. 
1 Allgemeine Ubersicht der Flora auf den Canarischen Inseln (1819), pp. 338-9. The 
Norwegian botanist, Christian Smith, accompanied Buch to the Canaries. His diary was published 
by F. C. Kiaer in 1889, and in it we find on p. 29 an entry relating that Buch brought him 
* Stat(ice) fr(uticosa).’ To this Kiaer has added a footnote : * = Limonium fruticosum , Mill., 
Statice cylindricum , Forsk. eller maaske = Statice arborea , S. 137.’ ‘ S. 137’ refers to Buch’s 
Physikalische Beschreibung der Canarischen Inseln (1825), where it says : ‘ Fuente del Rey, 
zwischen Puerto Orat. u. Realexo ; aber in Garten. Wo ist sie wild ? ’ Kiaer’s synonymy is 
certainly wrong. What Miller’s Limonium fruticosum is, I do not know for certain, possibly 
Statice axillaris , Vahl., a species of both coasts of the Red Sea, whilst ‘ Statice cylindricum , 
Forsk.,’ or rather 1 Statice cylindrifolia , Forsk.,’ as it should read, is a native of Yemen. Chr. Smith 
very likely meant Statice arborea. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XX. No. LXXVIII. April, 1906.] 
