JOHNSTON: FLORA OF MARGARITA ISLAND. 283 
cases the flowers appear before the leaves on shrubs; for example, 
Cercidium viride, Gliricidia hitea, several Bignonias, Erythrina, 
Cassia emarginafa, and Pedilanihus tithtjmaloidc.s. 
In pleasing contrast to the plains, the mountain summit is constantly 
clothed in green vegetation and many blossoms are always to be found. 
The presence the year round of the moisture-laden clouds accounts for 
this difference between the mountain top and the plains. The latter 
have only a few months (August to February) of green vegetation, 
with the remainder of the season cliaracterized by gray lifeless bushes 
and trees and by an utter lack of low herbs. 
The foregoing represents in brief the distribution of the plants on 
^Margarita. The discussion has been more suggestive than exhaustive. 
A thorough exploration of the island according to scientific methods 
in such work would yield valuable information not particularly in 
regard to Margarita but from the point of view of the life history of 
the plants themselves. As evinced in the above paragraphs the 
following topics have seemed to the writer of paramount importance 
in considering the plant distribution: occurrence of the plants in 
regions of different vegetative conditions; occurrence in groups or 
scatteringly; and the effect of the seasons both on the occurrence of 
the plants in different regions and on the abundance of the plants. 
Compositio?i of the Flora. 
In order to compare the vegetation of Margarita and Coche with that 
of the adjacent regions in as thorough a way as is desirable, it is neces- 
sary to have a full understanding of the composition of the vegetation. 
The purpose of studying the flora of these islands from an economic 
as well as a purely scientific point of view, has necessitated cataloguing 
the cultivated plants. These may or may not be native of the region 
but in either case they are so widely cultivated in all of tropical America 
and some of them commonly in the East Indies that for the purposes 
of comparing floras they must be entirely disregarded. Of those that 
come under this head the following have been included in the catalogue 
of plants. Although they are not all cultivated in ^Margarita yet they 
are in many other places (see Alph. De CandoUe, Geographic bot., 
vol. 2, p. 981-983): 
Achras Zapota Ananas sativa 
Agave aniericana Annona reticulata 
Anacardium occidentale Annona squamosa 
