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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. II, October, 1948 
spicuous examples of a general rule—that not 
less than half of all ferns were of Antarctic 
ancestry. Before I was ready to publish, this 
figure grew to three-quarters; and I have more 
recently raised it to 90 per cent. These figures 
apply to the ferns of the world. Except for a 
possible half-dozen Hawaiian species of freak¬ 
ishly scattered apparent geographic affinity, 
there is not one of the ferns of the Pacific 
islands which I do not now regard as of reason¬ 
ably direct Antarctic origin. 
Let me presume to hammer this home, be¬ 
cause, as to the ferns, I speak with some author¬ 
ity. Contrary to our old ideas, the rich fern 
flora of Malaya was not the source of Poly¬ 
nesian ferns—not of one Polynesian fern. For 
it to have been so, the sun would have had to 
rise in the west. New Guinea is richer in 
ferns, the richest land in the world, and is the 
immediate source of the most of the ferns of 
the Philippines, Malaya, and southeastern Asia. 
For a brief period, clinging to a fragment of 
earlier prejudice, I pictured Polynesia as like¬ 
wise populated from New Guinea; but this is 
not so likely. 
Fiji is a plausible center of radiation of 
Polynesian ferns. I do not believe that it re¬ 
ceived its ferns directly from New Guinea, 
but it may have done so from somewhere along 
the path of northward migration—from the 
general region of the New Hebrides, as a sug¬ 
gestion. Eastward migration in these latitudes 
is against the prevailing wind and against the 
direction of storms, which explains the rapid 
drop in population from Fiji to Tahiti, and 
eastward in general. 
Only Rapa among oceanic islands shows some 
indication of having any ferns not of ultimate 
New Zealand origin. If Juan Fernandez and 
the Galapagos are included in the subject of 
discussion, their ferns are of either direct 
Antarctic (as to some of the ferns of Juan 
Fernandez), or American origin—ultimately 
Antarctic, but by way of Graham Land and 
Tierra del Fuego. Almost all Hawaiian ferns 
are derived ultimately from New Zealand. 
So much for the ferns, about which I speak 
from personal knowledge. It is unthinkable 
that what occurred with ferns should not have 
happened with other plants, to the extent that 
there was a source of supply in Antarctica, and 
at least as far as they depend upon the wind 
for dissemination. 
Doctor Hooker’s original postulate of an 
Antarctic origin of austral floras was based on 
his observation of the distribution of flowering 
plants (Hooker, I860). Skottsberg, 30 years 
ago (1915: 142), published a list of plants 
common to New Zealand and sub-Antarctic 
America, and without a plausible northern 
source. This list includes representatives of 49 
families, including Leguminosae, Compositae, 
Rubiaceae, sedges and grasses. As to the species 
on Skottsberg’s list, Antarctic origin is little less 
than certain. Polynesian plants, even if com¬ 
mon to New Zealand, were excluded from that 
list. For today’s purposes, they should of course 
be included. If they and their immediate rela¬ 
tives, presumably of more recent evolution, be 
included, a list thus compiled will include more 
than half of the flowering plants of Polynesia. 
At this point, my conclusion is that all Poly¬ 
nesian ferns and more than half of Polynesian 
flowering plants are of ultimate Antarctic 
ancestry. 
For the most of the remainder of the flower¬ 
ing plants, no other ancestry or origin can be 
postulated with greater plausibility. The situa¬ 
tion as to them is simply that the evidence has 
not yet been discovered, or is not yet digested 
and understood. There are no important 
families of flowering plants except Myrtaceae 
(regarding Proteaceae as relatively unim¬ 
portant) for which a nearly completely austral 
origin can be affirmed with the same confidence 
as for the ferns. I suspect all Polynesian 
Rubiaceae of Antarctic origin; also, excepting 
a few ubiquists, all Cyperaceae and Gramineae. 
As is true of ferns, the "flowering floras” of 
Polynesia and Malaya have much in common, 
and the time has been when men could conclude 
therefore that the poorer flora of Polynesia was 
