Taylor. — Endemism in the Bahama Flora . 
53i 
Vernonia has five species in the Bahamas, four endemics among them. 
No other Vernonia is known on Inagua but the widely distributed 
V. bahamensis , which is also endemic in the archipelago, and from 
which the endemic V. obcordata peculiar to Inagua must have been 
derived. 
In all these ten genera, except Agave and Nashia , it is difficult to 
avoid the conclusion that endemics peculiar to Inagua have been derived 
from other and much more widely distributed species also known to grow 
there. Agave , with all its species endemic, and only one of which besides 
A. Nashii is also found on Inagua, is a peculiar case. In this genus 
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Note the dotted lines that mark the limits of the old land masses of the Bahamas, now represented 
by the Banks and the scattered islands. 
we are confronted with a wealth of scattered progeny but a dearth of 
parents. The most widely distributed endemic is A. bahamana , but it 
is unknown from Inagua, and is so far recorded only from the islands on 
the Great Bahama Bank. In other words, we are faced with two endemic 
century plants on Inagua, and with Nashia inaguensis , none of which have 
any relatives now on the island from which they could have been derived. 
There is, of course, always the chance that the progenitors of these 
endemic century plants and of Nashia have failed of survival, and that 
these endemics and others in the archipelago represent the end-series of 
a pre-existing flora, which the great specialization of habitat has produced. 
The sterility of the soil, limited rainfall (salt is recovered by evaporation of 
