Endemism in the Bahama Flora . 1 
BY 
NORMAN TAYLOR. 2 
With one Map in the Text. 
S OMEWHAT over fourteen per cent of the wild flora of the Bahama 
Islands is confined to that archipelago. Among 894 native species 
scattered through the islands, 132 flowering plants are endemics, while of the 
balance, about 100 species are derivatives of cultivation or otherwise 
introduced. 
While the rest of this paper will deal with the endemic flowering 
plants, the following is inserted to complete the known record of endemism 
in the archipelago : 
Endemic Species . 
Spermatophyta . . . . . . . . . 132 
Pteridophyta ......... i 
Bryophyta .......... i 
Thallophyta : 
Fungi .......... 18 
Lichens .... ..... 19 
Algae (including Diatomaceae) . . .... 14 
Myxomycetes ......... o' 
185 
The distribution of these endemic flowering plants and their near 
relatives appears to throw some light upon the floristic composition of the 
Bahama flora and upon that of adjacent regions. Before beginning 
a general or specific discussion of these endemics it may not be inap- 
propriate to record certain facts regarding them that do not coincide with 
the ‘ Age and Area’ hypothesis of Dr. J. C. Willis. 
The substance of that theory demands that the antiquity of endemics 
should be measured by the amount of area they have covered. Very rare 
endemics would be quite ‘ new ’ while widely dispersed ones presumably 
more ancient. In a paper on ‘ Endemism in the Flora of the Vicinity of 
New York’ it was suggested that at least in that region the youth or 
1 This study has been made possible by the recent publication of the very complete Bahama 
Flora by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Charles Frederick Millspaugh. To both authors I am under 
pleasant obligations for help in the preparation of this account of the endemics. To Dr. Britton 
especially my acknowledgements are due for his interest in this study and his helpful suggestions 
during its progress 
2 Contributions from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, No. 25. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXV. No. CXL. October, 1921.] 
