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Show 414 ISLAND LIFE. (PART 'If. F1·agmentary Character of the Mascarene Fl01·a.-Although the:, peculiar character and affinities of the vegetation of these islands is sufficiently apparent, there can be little doubt that we only possess a fragment of the rich flora which once adorned them. The cultivation of sugar, and other tropical products, has led to the clearing away of the virgin forests from all .the lowlands, plateaus, and accessible slopes of the mountains, so that Tetrataxis (Lythracere ) ........... 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. Psiloxylon , ............ 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius and Bourbon. Mathurina (Turneracere) ..... ..... 1 sp., a shrub, Rodriguez. Footidia (Myrtacere) ................ 1 sp., a tree, Mauritius. Danais (Hubiacere) ................ .4 sp., climbing shrubs, Maur. (1 sp.), Rodr. (1 sp.), also Bourbon and Madagascar. Fernelia (Rubiacere) ............... 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius and Rodriguez. Pyrostria , ................ 6 sp., shrubs, Mauritius (3 sp. ), also Bour-bon and Madagascar. Scyphochlamys (Rubiacere) ...... 1 sp., a shrub, Rodriguez. Myonima , ...... 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon. Cylindrocline (Compositre) ....... 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. Monarrhenus , ...... 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. Faujasia (Compositre) ............. 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. Heterochrenia (Campt.mulacere ) .. 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius, also Bourbon. Tanulepis (Asclepiadncere) ...... 1 sp., a climber, Rodriguez. Decanema , ...... 1 sp., a climber, Mauritius, also Madagascar. Nicodemia (Loganiacere) ...... 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius ( 1 sp. ), also Com01·o Islands and Madagascar. Bryodes (Serophulariacere) ...... 1 sp., herb, Mauritius. Radamrea , ...... 2 sp., herb, Seychelles (1 sp.), and Mada-gascar. Colea (Rignoniacere) ...... r .... 10 sp., Mauritius: (1 sp.), Seychelles (1 sp. ), also Bourbon and Madagascar. (Shrubs, trees, or climbers.) Obetia (Urticacere) .................. 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar. Bosquiea (Morere) .................. 3 sp., trees, Seychelles ( 1 sp.), also Mada-gascar. Monimia (Monimiacere ) ............ 3 sp., trees, Mauritius (2 sp.), also Bourbon. Cynorchis (Orchid ere) ............. 3 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius. Amphorchis ,, ............. 1 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius, also Bourbon. Arnottia , ........... ;.2 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius, also Bourbon. Aplostellis , ............. 1 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius. Cryptopus ,, ............. 1 sp., herb, l£piphyte, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. CHAP. XIX.) THE MADAGASCAR GROUP. 415 · remains of the aboriginal woodlands only linger in the recesses of the hills, and numbers of forest-haunting plants must inevitably have been exterminated. The result is, that nearly three hundred species of foreign plants have run wild in Mauritius, and have in their turn helped to extinguish the native species. In the Seychelles, too, the indigenous flora has been almost entirely destroyed in most of the islands, although the peculiar palms, from their longevity and comparative hardiness, have survived. Mr. Geoffrey Nevill tells us, that at Mahe, and most of the other islands visited by him, it was only in a few spots near the summits of the hills that he could perceive any remains of the ancient flora. Pine-apples, cinnamon, bamboos, and other plants, have obtained a firm footing, covering large tracts of country and killing the more delicate native flowers and ferns. The pine-apple, especially, grows almost to the tops of the mountains. Where the timber and shrubs have been destroyed, the water falling on the surface immediately cuts channels, runs off rapidly, and causes the land to become dry and arid; and the same effect is largely seen both in Mauritius, Lomatophyllum (Liliacere) ....... 3 sp., shrubs (succulent), Mauritius, also Bourbon. Lodoicea Latania Hyophorbe Dictyosperma Acanthophrenix Deckenia. N eph ro~perm a Roscheria Verschaffeltia Stevensonia Ochropteris (Palmre) ......... 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. ,, ......... 3 sp., trees., Mauritius (2 sp. ), Rodriguez, also Bourbon. , ......... 3 sp., trees, Mauritius (2 sp. ), Rodriguez, o.lso Bourbon. , ......... 1 sp., tree, Mauritius, Rod1iguez, also Bourbon. , ......... 2 sp., trees, Mauritius, also Bourbon. , ......... 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. , ......... 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. , ......... 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. , ......... 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. , ....... .. 1 sp., tree, Seyche1les. (Filices) ...... 1 sp., herb, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. Among the curious features in this list are the great number of endemic shrubs in Mauritius, and the remarkable asaemblage of five endemic genera of palms in the Seychelles Islands. 'Ve may also notice that one palm (Latania loddigesii) is confined to Round Island and two other adjacent islets, offering a singular analogy to the peculiar snake also found there. |
